The yawning gap between rhetoric and action was evident on Wednesday during the discussion on inflation. In both Houses, finance minister P Chidambaram had hardly any company on the treasury benches as he took notes and prepared for his reply to the debate.In Lok Sabha, even the few MPs who did turn up quietly sidled out of the House. There was a possibility of a quorum call,but since no one raised the matter, MPs were spared the blushes. Possibly some MPs felt that it was more useful to catch up with political natter over a repast in central hall. A rare exception was Congress veteran R K Dhawan in Rajya Sabha who sat throughout. In the Upper House, Left MPs were present in strength though CPM's Brinda Karat left after BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi spoke. Joshi, who initiated the debate for the Opposition, was seen sitting alone. His party colleague Vinay Katiyar came in for a while and left as did Maya Singh. Ravi Shankar Prasad came in late. New members Prakash Javdekar and Prabhat Jha were among the few listening to the speeches. In fact, Javdekar was to make his maiden speech during the debate. Ex-bureaucrat N K Singh, a columnist on economic issues like inflation, was missing when the discussion began but joined in after the lunch break. Former corporate executive Parimal Nathwani was among the few who heard the debate. In the post-lunch session, in the upper House, the attendance of Left and SP members was slightly better. Treasury benches wore a deserted look as did the BJP rows. SP member Amar Singh was missing all through while Jaya Bachchan came in for some time.