THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thursday had its share of laughs in the Assembly with Saju Paul playfully chanting ‘’Once a papa met a mamma under a coconut tree,’’ palmolein-drenched Chief Whip P C George being called ‘Sikhandi’ and Finance Minister K M Mani announcing he had just coined a word which was about to bust the popularity charts.Enjoying a dig at the UDF’s 100-day programme, Saju Paul was in doubt as to why Chandy and Co. did not include the discovery of 12 new species of frogs and the selection of Leila Lopes as Miss Universe in the We-did-it list. “Those too happened during the 100 days. There was even a PM sitting in the CM’s seat,” he quipped, drawing chuckles from all sides. “They say they will protect the Padmanabhaswamy Temple. What else can they do. Raze it to the ground?” he asked.UDF’s hyped crash-course in management for the ministers also provided ample ammo for Saju. “Suddenly Mani and Kunhalikutty were speaking English. As if that was something,” he said, launching into an impromptu rendition of the oft-sung “Once a papa met a mamma under a coconut tree/Asked the papa to the mamma/Will you marry me?”.‘Sikhandi’ too was ‘remembered’ in the House on Tuesday with CPM’s K K Jayachandran saying Oommen Chandy was meddling in the Palmolein case by planting P C George as ‘Sikhandi’. Not that George appeared to care. “You can call me anything. At least you people have started showing respect to the Court thanks to me,”he said with a dismissive wave, and gazing heavenwards - “Daivathinu Sthotram!”A K Saseendran’s attempt at demolishing the UDF by calling them ‘Neo-liberals’ didn’t go down too well with K M Mani. “I’d call you neo-conservatives,” he said. But then T M Thomas Isaac, who appeared to have a proprietary interest in the cryptic business, wanted to know where he could get a textbook to study what this “-ism” was all about.Mani, apparently, was under the impression that he himself had coined the term. “Oh! These words are simply coined by people. This one belongs to K M Mani. It will have currency worldwide from this day,” declared Mani.
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