A mountain of a molehill. Looks like Justice Tahiliani understood Hasan Ali very well – is he a mere reincarnation of Natwarlal? This main job was to get loans for companies by forging documents and bank accounts. Ali’s son holds an ordinary post at a company in Hyderabad. Looks like our investigative agencies have missed the entire point when it came to Ali’s interrogation.

Heading the PAC, Murli Manohar Joshi clearly knew his rights and priviledges and has no intentions of calling people such as Ratan Tata, Neera Radia and Anil Ambani for interrogation. But like we say, “Chor ki daadhi mein tinka”, these three and several others wrote letters to the PAC saying they wanted to clear their stand on the whole thing. What more could have Joshi asked for – he instantly called for them, knowing well that the rights of PAC are limited to the suits filed by the CAG on the 2G scam.

Sanjay Joshi’s return to the BJP was almost sure but suddenly the entire matter did a U-turn. This time it is not the BJP (Narendra Modi is indifferent in the matter) but the Sangh Parivar that seems divided on his coming back into the fold. Where Sangh head Mohan Bhagwat and Bhaiyaji Joshi are trying to ensure Sanjay Joshi’s comeback, others such as Madandas Devi and Suresh Soni are against the move.

On a parting note, Praful Patel has made sure Air India is run to the ground. Now the current Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi is bringing out all the issues out. And it is a critical question as to how Emirates, Air Asia and Gulf Air get such significant golden routes in India? According to sources, there was a close confidante of the former minister who got all the deals finalized. The office of Air Asia is in his office space and the distribution rights of Emirates are also with the same person. Emirates’ low fare “Flight Dubai” has also started from Chandigarh and several new routes are also being given. It is being said that the worth of all this is in crores and the payoff is said to be $20 per seat. This same person has several duty-free shops at IGI Airport. And what’s in a name, when his name has already been called out by BJP’s Prakash Javdekar in the Rajya Sabha.

The chief secretary of FICCI and a financial adviser to Mamata Banerjee, Amit Mitra, doesn’t seem to be taking the political heat too well. It may be remembered that he is contesting elections against the CPI-M finance minister Aseem Dasgupta. He couldn’t take the heat during the elections and promptly fell ill. As soon as his Marathi wife Meera got news of it, she took the next flight out of Delhi to Kolkata.

Pawar is probably regretting using the word “Aakhein tarerna” against the Congress in the local elections. Matter after murky matter is coming to light and the association with Pawar in it, and Pawar’s heart is surely sinking. The way the 2G scam matter is revealing itself and the way Pawar connection is being established will be a matter of worry for this Maratha leader. The way the scam is connecting itself with the D-company via Shahid Balwa and Asif Balwa is astonishing and so is the chargesheet being filed by the CBI. It will file the entire chargesheet by April 25, and after which difficulties for several prominent leaders is set to increase, so much so that they might have to bail themselves out from the court. It looks like Anil Ambani may also have to pay for his friendship with Amar Singh in the past. P Chidambaram is trying his best to protect him but after all, he’s just one!

Regarding the party changing law in Karnataka, an important verdict will be passed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. People sense that the verdict may go against the Yeddyurappa government. While means the government may come into minority. After all, how long can one hope against hope?

Coming up with the new idea of Hindu terrorism, Congress is aggressive against the BJP and especially the Sangh Parivar. How many Sangh members will be brought under the scanner and how, the Indresh incident bears testimony to the fact. The bureaucracy has harmed his reputation to the maximum. Now all such trials are being transferred to the NIA, which looks are cases related to terrorism. So, from a so-called independent agency like CBI, these matters have now come under a body of the Central government. CBI is answerable to the CVC and so you can almost call it an independent body but the NIA is truly a government organization and comes under the home ministry and under Chidambaram, who has come up with the term Hindu terrorism. That is the reason that has the Sangh leaders most worried. The government can’t remove the cases filed by the CBI but the NIA is a free-for-all – remove anyone you want, include anyone you wish.

Pranab’s son Abhijeet, who is contesting the elections from a Congress ticket in Nalhati, was eager to take part even in the last Vidhan Sabha elections but Pranab da didn’t agree to it. He wasn’t ready this time either, and both father-son had a long dialogue about it. Father told son, “You are manager in a navratna company and you have a bright future. Tomorrow you can even head Sail (Steel Authority of India). Son replied, “When you entered politics after leaving your lecturer’s post, you were merely 35 years old. If you had dedicated your life to teaching, you would have become a principal in some college.” Father understood what the son was saying and anyways, Abhijeet’s win from Nalhati shouldn’t be so tough, considering Mamata is not putting her party person there. It is the fort of Trinamool and even the chairman of the Municipal Corporation belongs to the party, who Mamata pacified and convinced not to contest the elections. Abhijeet’s wife Jhumpa is also busy with campaigning for her husband. They have two children – an elder daughter and a son and both study in London. Mamata had offered Abhijeet a ticket from Trinamool but he didn’t agree to it. And now that the father has given his consent, too, he has also agreed to campaign for him. The father-son duo is set to do a foot march in the contested area on April 7-8.

If someone wants to learn politics, he should do it from the Gandhi family – how both mother and son take every step in a measured and calculated way. The Congress has been successful in conveying the message that while Sonia is for the UPA, Rahul is for the Congress. Sonia is heading to West Bengal and so is the prime minister. Both of them will address the joint rally by Trinamool and Congress. The rally will start from north Bengal. Rahul, too, is visiting the area but instead of the joint rally, he will campaign for only the Congress contestants. Clearly, this will please that segment of Wes t Bengal Congress that is in favour of “Aekla chalo re” instead of the coalition with the Trinamool. The state Congress President Manas Bhuiyan is also of the same thinking, while Pranab Mukherjee is singing paeans to the party’s friendship with Mamata Banerjee.