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The Congress party's pet peeve is that Nationalist Congress Party ministers get away with murder. Consequently, there were loud grumbles in Parliament on Tuesday when civil aviation minister Praful Patel was missing during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha when it was his day to face MPs. But Patel was in Kolkata, shepherding his boss Sharad Pawar's 18 voters for the BCCI elections.

It seems the prime minister makes no secret of his annoyance when Congress ministers skip their listed day for Question Hour. However, when it comes to the NCP contingent, he simply shrugs his shoulders. While Patel spent two days in Kolkata, keeping an eagle eye on Pawar's flock, Lalu Yadav's right hand man, Prem Chand Gupta, batted for him in Parliament. Gupta knows next to nothing about civil aviation, as MPs discovered. It was all for a good cause. Lalu had a strong interest in a Pawar victory. He's battling BJP's Kirti Azad for recognition of his faction of the Bihar Cricket Association. He will need all the help Pawar as BCCI president can give, now that the BJP is in government in Bihar.

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After embarrassing his mother by skipping almost the entire monsoon session of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi is being a good boy this time. He's in the Lok Sabha every morning and stays till the lunch break. In fact, he surprised Congress circles by sitting through the entire debate on the Volcker report.

He was actually scheduled to fly to Mumbai that afternoon to see the India-South Africa cricket match at Congress MP and former BCCI vice president Rajiv Shukla's invitation. He cancelled his plans at the last moment and brother-in-law Robert Vadra went alone.

Although the Volcker debate in the Lok Sabha was of pretty poor quality, Rahul apparently didn't want to miss even a minute, particularly since Sonia was a target for speakers like George Fernandes and Maneka Gandhi. Rahul may not show much interest in being groomed to take over the Congress party but his protective instincts go into overdrive when it comes to his mother.

He did finally make it to Mumbai late in the evening, after the vote on the Volcker resolution. By then the match was over. The brothers-in-law had a night out together instead.

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The new parliamentary affairs minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi is quite a hit with journalists. And it's not just because of his ready wit. He lays on a lavish spread at his daily briefings in the evening. The correspondents who cover Parliament are ecstatic. They get food and news under one roof! It's a glorious contrast to the earlier days. Dasmunshi's predecessor, Ghulam Nabi Azad, had nothing to say and only biscuits and chips to offer.

The change has little to do with the Bengali love for food and ‘adda’ (chitchat). Apparently, Dasmunshi has taken his cue from the Australian Parliament where the government whip hosts high tea for the media every evening at which he wraps up the day's developments. The only snag is that the crowd in Dasmunshi's room is getting bigger and bigger, now that word has spread about the rasgullas and samosas he serves.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net