Prominent astrologers of India are worried about the future of Manmohan Singh government. Several of them have predicted a change of guard in April 2012. It’s the shukra dasha for the Centre at present. Starting February, Rahu will join the dasha. Gradually, this change in stars’ position will cause major upheavals. During the turbulent times of V P Singh and Chandashekhar’s government, was the same position of the stars. So, astrologers are predicting the farewell of Manmohan Singh government by April 2012. It will be interesting to see if the new Nizam Rahul Gandhi gets the reins of power in his hands.

Until when can you postpone the inevitable? And how long will P Chidambaram be safe from the Opposition’s attacks? The Opposition is boycotting him in the Parliament, and a certain Swamy is going all out talking against him. There are two witnesses against him in the court, and several secrets are buried deep inside the 2G scam, all of which can decide Chidambaram’s future. He is fighting the battle of his life. He is being supported in this fight by two big English dailies. A prominent south Indian English Delhi is also going all out to glorify him. As a lawyer, he also has a good network in the judiciary. A corporate lawyer, he has also been the finance minister, and so he shares a good camaraderie with a lot of people from the corporate world. Despite all this, it will not be easy for PC to come out unscathed because the Opposition is all aggression in its attack on him.

There was a time when Jagan Mohan Reddy was a Congress Parliamentarian and he was assigned a seat right next to Rahul Gandhi’s in the Parliament. But since he left Congress and registered a win in the Kadappa by-elections, he has been allotted the last, that is, the 262 division number seat in the eleventh row. Clearly, he is placed far, far away from the ruling party’s seats. But then he understands this distance, and so does the Congress.

Netaji Mulayam Singh Yadav’s second son Pratik Yadav’s marriage is being held in Safai today. Pratik is to marry Arvind Singh Bist’s daughter Aparna. Both are old friends. But Netaji has clearly told both Pratik and Aparna that they shouldn’t nurse any political ambitions because he has decided that Akshilesh will succeed the political empire. But he is happy with the alliance and is throwing a grand reception on December 7 in Lucknow.

There is a lot of unrest inside the Congress regarding Anand Sharma. Actually it is Anand Sharma who gave the party feedback that FDI in retail space was something even the BJP-ruled states didn’t have a problem with FDI. Sharma had been given the responsibility to speak to the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. Now even the Modi government has registered its opposition with the Central government regarding the move. Modi says that he had told Anand Sharma to come up with a cooperative chain similar to that of Amul and that there was no question of agreeing to FDI in retail. The chief minister of Himachal Pradesh is speaking in the same vein – which means its face-off time between Anand Sharma and BJP-government states.

There’s no one better than the Congress when it comes to political games. Openly, the party is challenging the BJP “Bring the no-confidence motion in the Parliament if you dare to”. It is the main Opposition party’s prerogative to ask for a no-confidence motion, but the BJP is unable to muster the courage to do so, because it knows that if it moves the no-confidence motion, it will not have the support and vote of SP, BSP and the Left parties. And because the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh are round the corner, so they don’t want the Congress should have an excuse to tell the voters in the state that the Left parties, SP and the BSP are in cahoots with each other.

The FDI issue in retail area has brought about a storm in Indian politics. There is such a stand-off between the government and the Opposition that people can actually sense mid-term elections approaching. The BJP-led Opposition was once ahead in the race; it is believed that it has the support of 295 Lok Sabha members for raising its voice against FDI – all in all, the tables has turned so drastically that the Manmohan Singh government could have fallen flat on its face. At such a time, Congress’ Mr fix-its sprung to action and the exercise to pacify UPA’s coalition parties such as Trinamool and DMK started. The Congress managers managed to get Karunanidhi around easily, but Mamata won’t relent. With great difficulty, she is being persuaded to agree that if there is a vote against FDI in the Parliament, Trinamool will be absent. The DMK will also mark its absence, since the idea was the party’s itself. Out of the Parliament, both the DMK and Trinamool will continue to speak against the FDI. The Congress wants that too, so that the Parliamentary proceedings are disrupted until it reaches the magical 272 number.

Instead of the usual love and affection Mamata had for Pranab da is now replaced with anger. Didi is really cut up with Dada, so upset, in fact, that she doesn’t even want to consider Pranab da as a minister from West Bengal! She feels that as a finance minister, he is giving a step-motherly treatment to Bengal and overlooking what Bengal really needs. If she could have her way, she would ask Sonia and Manmohan to take him off the Cabinet; that is also the reason didi is going so strict on the FDI.

Rahul Gandhi is not becoming strict with the Parliamentarians and minister of Uttar Pradesh. He has let his displeasure known to the party members, too. Rahul’s actual worry is that the leaders of the state get into action only when he visits the state, the entire team of Parliamentarians and ministers follows him, but the minute the Yuvraj comes back to Delhi, they too settle down in the capital. So now he has set a district duty for all of them. Rahul is in his own zone and the Assembly elections in the state are like a litmus test for him and is leaving no stone unturned. Rahul’s anger is somewhere placed on the Central government and its head, too. Rahul feels that at a time when the UP elections are round the corner, how can the Central government kick up the dust on issues that look anti-public on face value? So he is a little cut up with the Central government and Manmohan Singh as well.

Rani Kanhimozhi may have got bail in the 2G spectrum scam but former Telecom Minister A Raja has refuses to come out on bail. Sources reveal that Raja has told his lawyers that they should not move a bail application since he fears for his life once he is out. He fears he may meet the same end as Sadik Bachha, whose sudden death is still a mystery. But seeing his behaviour in the court and the prison, there is a sense that Raja may get bail. Raja is a law graduate and has a great sense of the legal intricacies. Sometimes even his own lawyers are surprised by his understanding and grasp of the subject. But what Raja is saying now tells a lot about his understanding of politics.