MUMBAI: Amid tense moments in the Maharashtra Assembly which saw BJP nominee Rahul Narvekar being elected as Speaker with support of the Eknath Shinde faction, shouting by some Opposition MLAs referring to the ED and "greenery" sent the House into peals of laughter.
The proceedings of the two-day special session of the Assembly began at 11 AM with the agenda to elect a new Speaker.
Against the backdrop of recent political developments which culminated in the formation of a new government in alliance with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and BJP, the stage was set for a confrontation with the Shiv Sena led by the Uddhav Thackeray camp.
After deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal ordered the headcount of MLAs to assess the numbers in favour of BJP nominee Rahul Narvekar and MVA's Rajan Salvi, legislative staff began the procedure.
However, the initial fumbling of the staff and some MLAs failing to speak out the correct sequential number invited critical comments.
As the staff reached rebel MLA Shahaji Patil's seat for headcount, someone from the Opposition bench shouted "zaadi" (greenery) in Marathi, evoking loud laughter in the House.
The "zaadi" reference was to Patil's recent viral audio clip in which he can be heard describing the view from the starred hotel in Guwahati where he had stayed along with rebel MLAs of Shiv Sena and Independents led by Eknath Shinde.
"Kaay ti Zaadi, kaay te dongar and kaay te Hotel, sagla Ok!" (Such beautiful greenery, mountain and such a posh hotel.
Everything is absolutely fine), Patil had told his colleague in the hotel apparently in awe of the place.
The "kay ti zaadi" spoken with the rural Marathi tone and the spontaneous exclamation inspired several meme-makers on social media and Patil soon became the talk of the town.
As the legislative staff reached the seat of rebel Sena MLA Yamini Jadhav, some Opposition MLAs shouted "ED".
Recently, Income Tax officials raided the places linked to Jadhav's husband Yashwant Jadhav, the former standing committee chairman in the Mumbai civic body, in the recent past.
Before joining the Shinde camp, Yamini Jadhav, who represents the Byculla seat in Mumbai, had released a video message claiming that her family did not receive any support from Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in the difficult times.
Initially, when the Vidhan Bhavan staff mistakenly counted votes, NCP leader Jayant Patil requested the deputy speaker to restart the counting.
Speaking after the election of Narvekar as the Speaker, NCP's Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil referred to Narvekar's family relation to Maharashtra council chairman Ramraje Naik and also took potshots at BJP.