Shah, Irani, Sonia Gandhi get front row in LS; Rahul keeps his old one in second

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his ministers and first time Lok Sabha members -- Amit Shah, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Smriti Irani-- have been given front row seats along with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in the lower house, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi retains his old seat in the second row.

The seat allocation by the Speaker on Wednesday also saw Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other Union ministers --Nitin Gadkari, Sadanand Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Arjun Munda and Arvind Sawant-- getting seats in the first row.

From the opposition parties, Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and DMK leader T R Baalu were also allocated seats in the front row.

This is for the first time that Irani, who was earlier a Rajya Sabha member, has been given a front row seat in Parliament. Shah and Prasad had front row seats in the upper house earlier.