Wisecracks and bonhomie

Too close for comfort

The seating arrangement in the Rajya Sabha is such that rival political leaders from Uttar Pradesh — Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav — sit next to each other. On Wednesday, when Ms. Mayawati defended her party’s demand for President’s rule in the State, Mr. Yadav looked the other way. Even when the House was adjourned for 10 minutes as the BSP supremo objected to the naming of her party members for coming into the well of the House, both did not exchange a word. But once the Chairman ruled that there would be no punitive action against the BSP members, there was bonhomie between the two. — Gargi Parsai

Pride from Telangana

Telangana-Andhra dynamics were at play when Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan made a congratulatory reference for 13-year-old Malavath Purna, who recently scaled Mt. Everest along with another teenager, Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar. The moment she mentioned that both were from Andhra Pradesh, members from Telangana were on their feet shouting, “It is Telangana, Madam.” Pacifying them, she said: “It is all right. It is Telangana now. They belong to the whole of India now.” — Anita Joshua

The devil is in the detail

Congress leader Rajiv Shukla managed to pack in some humour in his Rajya Sabha speech. Accusing the Narendra Modi government of double standards, Mr. Shukla said: “When we invite, he is Nawaz Shaitan [devil], but when you invite, he is Nawaz Sharif [decent].” He was referring to Mr. Modi inviting Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in, after having opposed several attempts by his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, to engage with Islamabad. — Varghese K. George

Modi and monsoon

Amid projections of a sub-normal monsoon, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh wondered if what the government was trying to package as the “El Nino effect” could be the “El Modi effect.” Stating that this was the first time in a decade that India was facing the prospect of a below normal monsoon, Capt. Singh said: “Is this God’s way?” As members from the BJP benches began to object to the reference and asked Capt. Singh what he meant by the “El Modi effect,” he said: “Things happened in Gujarat.” — Anita Joshua