Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra brought the largely acrimonious winter session of Parliament to an unexpectedly genial close on Friday through a cheerful conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over tea.

The setting was sedate: a customary post-session gathering hosted by Speaker Om Birla in his chamber for members of the House. With leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in Germany on party work, Priyanka stepped in for what is usually a low-key ritual and was seen enjoying some light-hearted moments.

Her presence and the ease she brought to the get-together stood out for another reason. Rahul and the entire Opposition had stayed away from a similar tea party after the monsoon session to protest a concerted attempt by the Treasury benches to “silence the Opposition’s voice”.

The first-time MP from Wayanad has also made a mark through pointed interventions in the House and engagements outside Parliament during the winter session.

While her brother confronted Union home minister Amit Shah with what was widely seen as an angry speech on alleged “vote chori”, Priyanka, in contrast, mounted a sharp attack on the ruling dispensation through a poised intervention during the Vande Mataram debate.

Her rebuttal to the BJP’s repeated targeting of members of the Nehru-Gandhi family drew particular praise, with clips of the exchange going viral on social media. “Let us have a discussion on the mistakes of Nehru, Indiraji, Rajivji, and on dynastic politics. Let it continue for 24 hours, even 40 hours. Let us finish it once and for all. Then let us talk about unemployment, paper leaks…,” she told the House.

Unlike Rahul, whose aggressive attacks on the BJP-RSS often provoke uproar from the Treasury benches, Priyanka’s sharp criticisms, delivered with a disarming smile, were seen to elicit little resistance from her political rivals.

Leading the Congress’s charge on the VB-G RAM G Bill, which seeks to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, she accused the government of being obsessed with renaming schemes and said legislation of such significance should not be rushed through based on “somebody’s whim, ambition and prejudice”.

As BJP members attempted to provoke her by repeatedly interjecting that Mahatma Gandhi did not belong to her family, she responded calmly: “Mahatma Gandhi was not from my family, but he is like my family. This is the emotion of the entire country.”

During Question Hour on Thursday, Priyanka’s humility-laced intervention drew attention when she sought an appointment with Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari. “May I also request you to grant me an appointment? I have been asking since June to discuss issues concerning my constituency, sir,” she said in the House.

Gadkari, breaking into a smile, replied: “Aaj Question Hour ke baad aap aa jaiye. Kabhi bhi aa jaiye, mera darwaza hamesha khula rehta hai (Come after Question Hour today. Come anytime — my door is always open).”

She later met Gadkari in his Parliament office and shared photographs of the meeting on social media.