Predictably, only first-time members of the Delhi Assembly were seen listening attentively to lectures delivered by senior parliamentarians and constitutional experts. The Delhi Cabinet along with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit were present at the start of the course. But as the speeches progressed, members of the Cabinet began to leave -- and by the time Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha Najma Heptullah started her thought provoking speech, the Delhi government went unrepresented.

The notable absentee MLAs were Deep Chand Bandhu, Tajdar Babbar, Ajay Maken, Kiran Choudhary, Mukesh Sharma, S.C. Vats and Subhash Chopra.

Heptullah's speech made the 20 MLAs left in the hall sit up, if not run. The arithmetic seemed to cut a little too close for comfort. ``MLAs get one crore in a year, that makes Rs 70 crore for the Assembly. Councillors get Rs 50 lakh, which makes it Rs 68 crore. Members of Parliament get Rs 1 crore which makes it seven crores for the House. And despite so much money, no work gets done in Delhi. I cannot imagine how,'' she wondered.

She harangued the first-timers: ``Many leaders who have been elected for the first time may not have any political background or a base in the constituency. Yet they will be sharing the Assembly with senior leaders who have put in years of work. The new MLAs, therefore, have to work hard to earn the respect that they deserve.''

Heptullah also put in a word about MLA absenteeism in the Assembly. She said: ``How can fulfilling the quorum be a problem. After all what other job has a MLA got?'' she asked. Speakers at the session also got worked up about the behaviour of the current crop of MPs and MLAs. They came out strongly against the `rudeness' that has crept into the procedure. Opening the session on an `open' note, former speaker of Lok Sabha Balram Jakhar said: ``I am ashamed of the way Members of Parliament and Assemblies behave. A time will come when members will only be in the well of the House and all the chairs will be empty.''

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit added her bit: ``Democracy may soon turn into a `mobocracy' if procedure is not followed in the House.'' Secretary to Speaker P.N. Gupta said: ``Most of the time there is no MLA ready to debate a Bill.'' One of the few MLAs who aired their views, Meera Bharadwaj, Congress MLA from Mandawli, asked: ``We get a salary of Rs 10,000. With that money if we get an office it would be so far-flung that the people of the constituency cannot reach it. We cannot have an assistant because no graduate can be employed at such a low salary. We just about pay our petrol bills''.