Heated Exchanges, Ugly Spat Dominate Maharashtra Assembly’s Monsoon Session

The Vidhan Bhavan is increasingly witnessing scenes of bad blood and sharp exchange between legislators. While sarcastic one-liners comments and humorous leg pulling have been traditionally acceptable and even encouraged, the current exchange of barbs between political rivals has taken on a downward spiral. So, when the BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar questioned Sharad Pawar’s family members following different faiths, not surprisingly, it was followed by NCP(SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad passing nasty remark to Padalkar when the latter was giving bites to news channels. The duo continued their duel right till the parking lot of the Vidhan Bhavan. The discourse turned further downwards when Opposition members turned up in banians and towels to poke fun at Eknath Shinde’s MLA Sanjay Gaikwad turning up in that gear at the MLA hostel in a viral video. In fact, Aaditya Thackeray and Nitesh Rane had a one-to-one duel on the floors of the assembly over the former terming the latter’s party as Chaddi-Banian party. Even the normally genial Aaditya Thackeray did not spare others and called out deputy chairperson of the legislative council Dr Neelam Gorhe for her comment that Mercedes had to be gifted for posts in the Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. The TV cameras caught Gorhe returning an angry stare. The same evening saw Aaditya’s cousin and fellow legislator Varun Sardesai accusing Gorhe’s bodyguards of pushing him around, again the spat flowing out before full media glare. While the TV cameras positioned outside the Vidhan Bhavan provide much needed oxygen in such reel-worthy and hits-hungry viral times, it’s not surprising to see the political friction play before the media gallery at this monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.