PM Narendra Modi hails 'beauty of democracy' at Tony Abbott's private dinner

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hailed the beauty of democracy which had enabled him to meet both the ruling and opposition leaders at a private dinner hosted in Melbourne by his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott.

"It's the beauty of democracy. The leaders of ruling and opposition parties are here- PM Modi at the dinner hosted by PM Abbot at the MCG," tweeted the Prime Minister's Office. He also recalled Abbott's visit to India in September as the first international guest after the NDA Government came to power in May.

"PM Abbott came to India in September. He was the first guest after we formed the government. People asked me isn't it too soon to visit Australia after @TonyAbbottMHR just visited. I said I can't say no to my friend Tony," the PMO's twitter account quoted him, as saying. Prime Minister Modi, who raised a toast at the gala dinner held at the historic 161-year-old Melbourne Cricket Ground, also praised the way Australia had hosted the G-20 Summit.

He also posed with Australian Prime Minister Abbott, cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, Stuart Clarke and the 2015 cricket World Cup trophy at MCG. Earlier today, the Prime Minister held a round table discussion with Australian business leaders in Melbourne, during which he discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation education, services, energy, banking and information technology.

After completing his five-day visit to Australia, the Prime Minister will head to Fiji before returning home from his 10-day three nation trip abroad.