Delhi: It is not just former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil who is finding it difficult to resign himself to his new job as Congress deputy leader in the House.

The rest of the party too is having second thoughts. At a Parliamentary Party meeting, Patil's "impartiality" stumped his audience: "If we want we can support POTO. If we want we can oppose it." His opinion on disinvestment was ditto.

It's just the sort of decisiveness the Congress needs.

Chandigarh: Politics does strange things. Few are more remarkable than converting Om Prakash Chautala into a self-appointed stickler for legislative propriety. The Haryana chief minister survived a no-confidence motion with expected ease and unexpected bravado. Even Bhajan Lal, Congress honcho and self-proclaimed "PhD in politics", was taken aback when Chautala upbraided the Opposition for its poor knowledge of legislative rules. "My only regret is not having a good Opposition," he said. "I have to act as a saas (mother-in-law) as well as a bahu (daughter-in-law)." Well, for the Chautalas politics has always been family business, hasn't it?

Delhi: The Government's move to amend Rajya Sabha election laws removing the domicile criterion for candidates has unusual takers. At a Congress Working Committee meeting, nearly everybody endorsed the idea. The sole dissenter was Kamal Nath, the only CWC member who has never sat in the House of Elders. When Nath suggested allowing any state's resident to contest from anywhere would violate the basic character of the Council of States, CWC colleagues went wild. Maybe Lotus (eater?) Nath should put his money where his mouth is and seek Rajya Sabha election from his state of domicile, West Bengal.

Brothers and Bothers

Patna: Chief Minister Rabri Devi's brothers, Subhash and Sadhu Yadav, are at loggerheads yet again. Bihar's Agriculture Minister Ghulam Sarwar had to replace a notification nominating Subhash as a member of the Gopalganj Agriculture Marketing Board with one appointing Sadhu in his place. The Subhash group is far from happy. "Sadhu has played his cards discreetly. When he was made chairman of an assembly committee, he warned his supporters not to publicise it," recalls an RJD MLA. Subhash lost on both counts. Sadhu, unlike what his name suggests, isn't one to renounce worldly pleasures.