Rebel poet Muktibodh says, “Jo hai us sey behtar chahiye, duniya ko saaf karney ke liye mehtar chahiye”. We, too, don’t think words are marketable, and think thoughts are efficient weapons. For more than a decade, Mirch Masala has, taken it upon itself to explore political sounds, to text it and then to convey the meaning of the same. It is a gossip column only in name, but we can guage the breaking of news. Only last week, through “Of CD and ED” did we give an example of the same. Exactly two days later on Tuesday, Economic Times made a bigger news of it and printed it on page one. By Friday, through this news, the Supreme Court gave the notice to the head of Sahara Shri and channel head Upendra Rai.

Sonia Gandhi is a tad surprised that it has been happening for the past few days, or maybe it is a coincidence that the moment she called a meeting with her kitchen cabinet, the roads close to her residence becomes a VIP route and those people coming to meet with her are usually late. She may have realized late, but she’s finally got the message.

Despite all goodwill gestures from Sonia Gandhi, Mamta Banerjee has started a non-proclaimed war against her. Mamta somehow feels that all rebellious Congress leaders in West Bengal somehow have the blessings of Sonia. So no matter how much Sonia wants, Mamta is not ready to organize a rally with her, while she is not only sharing the stage with Manmohan Singh but is also addressing rallies with him. And while all banners, posters and election publicity material have a picture of Manmohan Singh smiling, the publicity matter doesn’t feature Sonia.

The million dollar question is if Kanhimozhi will be arrested. The present circumstances betray by nodding in consent, and the imprisoned Raja in Tihar is probably waiting for his rani, too. But people are mistaken in thinking that Kani is Dayalu Amma’s daughter. Actually, the same question had been asked of Karunanidhi several years ago in the Vidhan Sabha as to who Rajthi Amma was. The bespectacled gentleman had unhesitatingly said, “Rajthi is Kanhimozhi’s mother and Kani is my daughter.” So now it is not secret that Karunanidhi has three wives, the eldest is dead, the second is the mother of Azhagiri, Stalin, and the daughter, and the third’s daughter is Kanhimozhi. No wonder Kani is so dear to Karunanidhi.

Discontent against Sheila Dixit in the Delhi State Congress Committee is on the rise. Now it has spread to the Municipality offices. Since the Shunglu report has been released, Chaudhury Birendra Singh is taking care of the Delhi party affairs, Kalmadi has been sent to jail, talk against Sheila in the party has increased. Few days ago, miffed at the municipality division, Congress’ Municipality Councilor Jeetendra Kochar “Jeetu”, in the presence of J P Agarwal and Anees Ahmed, demanded Sheila be removed. He alleged that 60 per cent of the loot money from the Commonwealth Games had gone to Sheila, and most of the money was invested in the constituency of Sanjay Dixit. All party biggies kept quiet on Kochar’s allegation. Were they fanning the fire against Sheila?

On the brink of returning back to the BJP, Uma Bharti is back to her old ways. This Wednesday on the occasion of her guru Pejawar Swami’s 81st birthday, she organized a big programme in New Delhi’s vasant Kunj located ashram. She gifted him a bag of Rs 81 lakh, and Advani too was present there. Apart from him, Baba Ramdev, Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Ritambhara and Govindacharya were also present there. Advani laid himself prostrate in sashtang pranam to Ramdev, and his wife Kamla and daughter Pratibha were also there. Uma especially invited them on the stage. Having lived 5-6 years outside, Uma has finally realized the importance of the stage.

There is speculation that as soon as it is sure by next week that Uma Bharti will be back into the BJP fold, Govindacharya may also be back. Despite this, through his social activism, Govindacharya is confronting the state governments where BJP is in power. On his casualty list is Uttarakhand’s Chief Minister Nishank. When he was in Delhi recently, he met with Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and repeated his request to announce the 135-km area from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi as an eco-sensitive zone. He also had Ramesh send Nishank a stern letter. It should be mentioned that during a meeting with Manmohan Singh, the chief minister had agreed on announcing the area as eco-sensitive, but the moment he returned to Dehradoon, he relented under pressure from the central ministers of the party and went back on his promise.

The BJP is worried about the Congress’ behaviour towards the PAC. Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has written a letter to the speaker of the house, saying that it has been a tradition that the PAC chairperson has always been from the Opposition party. Thus, carrying the tradition further, the next PAC chairman should again be Murli Manohar Joshi, while some excited Congress leaders want the position to be taken by Saifuddin Soz.

What a party the Congress is. Despite being shaken by political storms, its aggression towards the Opposition never ceases. Recently during an important meeting, a Congress leader confronted a prominent leader of the BJP. When the BJP leader asked the Congress person to look at themselves in the mirror, some youth Congressmen retorted back with a challenge saying, “We can also show you your pictures in the mirror, some with the dhoti and some without. Which ones would you like to see?”

Unitech’s Sanjay Chandra is behind bars for now, and seeing the problems coming in the way of his bail being granted, his lawyer has been changed from K T S Tulsi to Ram Jethmalani. They have also managed to change Niira Radia, and the company’s PR exercise is now being handled by Dilip Cherian. He is an old player in the game, and another new account doesn’t make too much difference to him.