At a time when the entire country was glued to the World Cup, BJP realized that singing political tones may sound music to too many people. But now the World Cup fever is on the decline. So this issue may become a hot topic that how did the government and the BCCI forget to invite Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj at the dinner hosted in honour of Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Geelani? This is a common protocol that whenever a foreign prime minister visits India and a meal is organized in his honour, the leader of Opposition is always invited. It was probably the cricket diplomacy, or the Congress’ or the country’s. Apart from Rahul and Sonia, even Robert had been invited for the same. Shashank Manohar and Rajeev Shukla were in their element. Was it the Congress’ reply to the Opposition’s behaviour in the Lok Sabha? A million dollar question, we say.

Chidambaram is extremely upset with the PMO’s initiative towards Pakistan. So, instead of being in Mohali on Wednesday, he went to Chennai, citing elections. Pranab Mukherjee is also said to be unhappy about it and he, too, took a flight to Guwahati. And because Geelani’s entourage also included the country’s home minister, protocol demanded that Chidambaram too be there. But PC wanted to make his annoyance public and went to Chennai. The group of politicians who had come with Geelani were from different parties. Contrary to PC, the PM’s advice was, “Ours is a large country, so we should forget the petty differences and show large heartedness by meeting our neighbours.” The foreign ministry was kept in the dark about this, Geelani’s invitation had also been extended from the PMO and S M Krishna not liking it was justified. But Manmohan couldn’t care less since he has memories of Pakistan. He was also happy that Geelani had got with him only politicians and no bureaucrats. So there was no one to keep a record of the conversations and take notes. Geelani, too, spoke to his heart’s content and Manmohan Singh already has an open heart.

Before India and Pakistan dinner diplomacy could get better, an unfortunate incident occurred at the Indian embassy in Islamabad. The same day, a car entered the restricted area of the embassy and the driver of the car was detained for interrogation. As a reply, Pakistan instantly arrested the Indian embassy’s senior counselor without deciding a reason. Now efforts are on to calm down the situation. The Indian embassy says we have released your driver, so you too should release our man. You need to see what kind of an environment prevails for this new relationship.

The Parliamentary Investigation Committee has collected a lot of witnesses against Sikkim Chief Justice Dinakaran. There are so many witnesses that he can be found guilty on the basis. Of these 12-15 are primary witnesses. These are people who gave cheque of a certain amount and were then paid cash of the same amount. The best of all is what a vegetable vendor has to say, “Sahab used to take cheques from me and gave me cash in return.”

Another chargesheet may be prepared under the 2G spectrum scam and it may focus on DB Realty and Loop Telecom. Several others may face the same fate but that will take time.

The Joint Parliamentary Committee and the Public Account Committee formed for the 2G investigation are at loggerheads with each other. PC recently called editors of two magazines – Outlook’s Vinod Mehta and Open’s Manu Joseph. It was Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt next. While this was happening, a handful of journalists went running to JPC Chairman P C Chacko and told him their grievances and also told Chacko how he was being made the scapegoat in the BJP-Congress rife, since PAC’s chairman is BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi. The journalists also argues that the PAC had been formed to investigate the CAG report on 2G scam but there was no mention of the Niira Radia tapes in the CAG report. If it does at all, it comes under the JPC area. Radia tapes have also mentioned Suhel Seth and Ranjan Bhattacharya so will the CAG summon them as well? After listening to the journalists, Chacko is busy telling Joshi’s his work area. The days to come might see the JPC vs PAC face-off.

The result of Assam’s elections depends in a big way on the terrorist group Ulfa. Paresh Barua’s underground Ulfa is against the Congress. According to reliable sources, Paresh is on the IAS payrolls still and is controlling the terrorist outfit in India all the way from China. The other Ulfa is Arvind Rajkhova’s and is over ground and supporting the Congress. It will be premature to say who will win the Assam elections just yet.

Kantilal Bhuria may be the next president of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee.

The Sangh has made UP elections a matter of honour. As a result, the BJP is busy waking up its saffron cadre and as a result, the party’s dependency on the Sangh is increasing. Every district in the state is getting 35 dedicated party members who will play a significant role in the elections. Party president Gadkari has already pointed out how important the UP elections are to him. So in reply to Rahul’s Mission 2012, the party is launching firebrand Varun Gandhi. This is unusual, considering the party and Varun were going through a cool period, but Gadkari is trying to bridge that gap since the party knows that where party-organised rallies are proving to be a dud in the state, those called by Varun are garnering a lot of mileage and crowd. On April 3, Varun is organizing a rally in Bansi in Siddhartha Nagar, adjoining Gorakhpur and Basti, where Sushma Swaraj is the chief guest. Raja Bansi and Jai Pratap Singh, who are close to Varun, are working day and night to make the rally successful. Varun is out of India for the first time since he got married and is set to return to India on March 31 by the night flight of British Airways. Meanwhile, his people are set to raise him to bigger heights.

Wounded by Bihar elections, Lalu Prasad is again seeking Sonia’s shelter. As it is, his confidante and industrialist, former central minister and Rajya Sabha member Premchand Gupta is a frequent visitor at 10, Janpath. So it is not a coincidence if he is seen trying to talk to Sonia in the Parliament and the corridors of the building. It is said that he is trying to chart a new political career for himself but Sonia is a case of once bitten, twice shy. She has clearly told Lalu that while she has no problems being on good terms with him, it will be difficult to get his four Parliamentarians in the Cabinet. But Lalu is merely concentrating on being friends with Sonia for now.