India has seen several terror attacks in the recent past and almost each one of them has been followed by demands for the resignation of Shivraj Patil.

However, this time, he had to go. Patil resigned on Sunday as pressure increases on the government to act. In a surprise move, P Chidambaram is now at Home. He will no longer be fighting inflation, but fighting terrorism.

The first head to roll was that of the dapper home minister Shivraj Patil after a furious Sonia Gandhi at an emergency Congress Working Committee meet asked for immediate action, a demand echoed by almost every senior leader there.

At the end, Shivraj Patil, left with little choice, said nothing except that he was ready to resign and take full responsibility - an offer that was swiftly accepted.

With only a few months left for elections, P Chidambaram is the unexpected replacement. One factor in his favour is that he was internal security minister under Rajiv Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has also held the finance ministry in the past, will keep finance with him at a time of global crisis.

Meanwhile, others, including top bureaucrats like the Intelligence Bureau Chief, may follow.

For the Opposition, this was a chance to score points - the facade of political unity at a time of national grief clearly over.

"The government must resign," said BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

And as a matter of fact, both L K Advani and Rajnath Singh skipped the all party meeting on the Mumbai attacks, nullifying any hope of unified political action. The reason for their absence was that they're busy campaigning.

The priorities of our politicians are clear - campaigning instead of meeting. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made the point that terrorists cannot defeat our democracy. The worry, however, remains that despite some heads rolling. All too soon it will be politics as usual.

Will the political class once again be completely out of sync with the public grief and national mourning of the people of India?