LAHORE, Nov 17: Najf Sial, who had brought embarrassment to the ruling PML on Wednesday, was a changed man on Thursday. He was as soft on Thursday as aggressive he was a day before. The Punjab Assembly continued its proceedings without quorum, but he did not dare point out that the members were not present in their required strength.

In fact, when an opposition MP invited the chair’s attention to the lack of quorum, Najf rushed to the lobbies and brought in the members sitting there.

It remains a mystery why the ‘conscience’ which had suddenly waken up slumbered so quickly.

Maybe, it was because of the presence of Law Minister Raja Basharat in the house or some warning from the higher leadership that he did not act in a manner he had threatened to act on Wednesday.

On Thursday, he was all praise for Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi for his good governance and was advising other ministers to work as dedicatedly as does the CM.

The chair was, however, indifferent to the ‘estranged’ former tehsildar-turned-lawmaker and did not allow him to speak on a point of order. The press gallery noted that the man from Jhang —who belongs to a family with close contacts with many royal families in various parts of the world— had signalled the house operator to turn his mike on even when the speaker was not willing to give him the floor.

“Are you under instructions not to hear me,” he asked. Still, he was not allowed even to recite a couplet for which he sought permission. Ultimately, he left the house rather disgraced.

His colleagues and opposition benches continued guessing the whole day the reason behind the sea change in the conduct of Mr Sial.

It is said that Sial met the chief minister on Thursday and was told in plain terms that indiscipline would not be tolerated at any cost. Sial explained his point of view and official sources say that the legislator from Jhang would now observe the rules of the game.

Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi also took serious notice of the growing trend of truancy. Instructions have been issued to all ministers, parliamentary secretaries and the chairmen of the standing committees to ensure their presence in the house ‘giving secondary importance to all other issues’.

Interesting discussions took place in the cafeteria.

IT Minister Aleem Khan sat in the company of some PML-N leaders like Mehr Ishtiaq, Ajasam Sharif and Bilal Yasin.

Aleem Khan said the PML-N legislators’ tone had changed for the past few days, possibly because of the issuance of passports to the exiled Sharif family. He noted that all lawmakers of the party were less hostile in their attitude, which he said was a good sign.

“The party did not know when the Sharifs had left the country and they won’t know when they would come back. One fine morning we’ll get up and listen that the Sharifs had already landed in Pakistan,” commented a PML-N leader.

A ‘senior turncoat’ Talib Dagraan, who was also sharing the table, said he enjoyed the status of an observer. “I don’t have to be worried about any party”, he said, implying that he had left the PML-N and had little say in the ruling party.

Saba Sadiq, another PML-N legislator who joined the ruling party a few months ago and became adviser, came from another table to advise Aleem Khan that the tea he was offering to her erstwhile colleagues should be ‘poisoned’.

“I won’t”, replied the minister, who is reportedly trying to bring in some more opposition legislators to the ruling party.

According to PPP’s Faiza Malik, the minister had approached her on Wednesday and asked if the ruling party should work on her.

“It will be an exercise in futility,” replied the PPP lawmaker.

However, Aleem Khan is not expected to give up his efforts. It is said he will gather ‘Information’ about the targets and then use ‘Technology’ to achieve them. He is a man of commitment and, according to PPP’s Syed Nazim Shah, a day would come when Aleem Khan would be the Punjab chief minister.

A question asked in the house was also a subject of discussions in the cafeteria.

The question was: “How many cows can a bull fertilize.”

“Depends upon (the capacity of) the bull,” replied the parliamentary secretary for livestock.

When the questioner insisted that the secretary should explain the standard ratio, the latter said one bull was sufficient for 20 cows.

“It can be sufficient even for 150 million,” cut in another legislator.