Amit Shah’s sudden return to Delhi leaving his Kerala rendezvous midway fuelled zillions of speculations. But, the fact is that he returns to attend a closed-door meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss the fallout of Centre’s economic policies. It was a marathon meeting. Shah told Jaitley that signals from the ground in Gujarat were rather disturbing. Traders from Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad were openly opposing the government policies. There was one moment when the two stalwarts had a verbal dual in presence of Modi. Finally, the tri agreed on managing crises by lowering GSP on 28-29 goods besides cutting VAT on petrol and diesel. It was mainly in view of impending Gujarat Assembly polls that the Government lowered GST rates on routine Gujarati snacks like Aam Papad and Khakra from 18 to 5 per cent. Keeping mind Surat’s textile industry, GST on Zari was reduced to 5 and on yarn, filament and fibres the duty was reduced from 18 to 12 per cent. Government is apparently
waiting for people’s response to the sops that is what is delaying Election Commission’s announcement of election dates. BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha has in his own inimitable style given a new definition of GST – Gayeel Tohaar Sarkar (Your Govt is bound to fall).

Everything isn’t well between the Sultan of Delhi and Maharani of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje. That is why when Prime Minister Modi reached Udaipur recently to inaugurate Rs 15 thousand road project, he overlooked the Chief Minister Raje and instead started talking to Ghanshyam Tewari who is a known Raje detractor ostensibly because Tewari’s constituency was to be the main beneficiary of these projects. The Same scene was witnessed on the stage too. While Raje was addressing the public meeting, PM was busy leafing through a magazine. Who knows better than Modi about what lays in store for her now.

BJP has been forced to change its electoral strategy in Gujarat. Now it is searching for star campaigners, for the first time after 2002 elections. Several union ministers have been asked to camp in Gujarat. Mahesh Sharma has been spending his week-ends in Gujarat. Sushma Swaraj and Yogu Adityanath have been asked to address meetings there. Some others are likely to be tried. From 2002 to 2014, Namo used to be the only campaigner for the BJP. Even Lal Krishna Advani, who represented Gandhinagar in Parliament, was kept away from the election campaign. But, this time Modi’s development plank will be tested hard in the elections. Social Media is already mocking the ‘development gone crazy’. Even Amit Shah’s Gujarat Gaurav Yatra has been unable to leave an impact. That is BJP is looking for fresh faces to hard sell the party’s 15-years reign in the state, often labelled ‘Hindutva Laboratory’.

There is a mad scramble for the post of new chief of Bihar Congress. The state in charge CP Joshi has recommended the name of a person with whom Rahul Gandhi doesn’t enjoy good vibes. Joshi has been batting for Akhilesh Singh who is a Bhumihar and won the 2004 polls in a Laloo wave and also became a minister in UPA-I courtesy Laloo Yadav. But, Akhilesh quitRJD in 2009 to join Congress. Ever since, he has failed to win even a single election, not even the Assembly election he contested once. His detractors have been questioning abilities of a perennial loser to run the party. The second claimant to the post is Sunder Singh Dhiraj who was Youth Congress chief in the state for 17 years and was a blue-eyed boy of Sitaram Kesri. But, Kesri had sidelined him after Dhiraj demanded that Sonia Gandhi is made party chief. He is an OBC and Rahul Gandhi seems favourably disposed towards him. Prem Chandra Mishra is another contender who has come via student union politics but he too has never won an election. Yet another name being bandied about is that of Madan Mohan Jha who had won the last election. Bihar Congress thus in the throes of possibilities because Laloo is on a sticky wicket and Congress can gain at RJD’s cost.

BJP has launched a full-fledged investigation into the people behind the rumour that Arun Jaitley had resigned from the Cabinet. A pro-Congress newspaper had even published the news. According to sources, Prime Minister had summoned Amit Shah and Jaitely for a briefing on the eve of GST council meeting on October 2. Jaitely was supposed to present government’s stand while Shah had to present the feedback gathered from the public. Shah’s confidante Bhupendra Yadav had been speaking to small and medium entrepreneurs to find out their problems with the GST. He had prepared a dossier and taken it to the PM. In the meantime, somebody spread a rumour that Jaitely had put in his papers. The ‘news’ reached Rajnath Singh who was in Lucknow. Out of panic Rajnath suspending his official engagements, rushed to Delhi in the apprehension of some untoward development. While social media was abuzz with rumours, Jaitely and Shah emerged out of PM residence unaffected.

Remember Vijay Wadettiwar who has shifted from Shiv Sena to Congress? But, this time Congress’s Presidential candidate Meera Kumar complained that Wadettiwar along with 10 other people, had cross-voted for NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind. But, Wadettiwar’s journey continued unhindered. First, he was appointed Deputy Opposition Leader in Maharashtra Assembly. Though it’s not a constitutional position, he was given the status of a Minister of State- perhaps a first in the country. He is included in Mohan Prakash’s coterie. But, now his name figures in the irrigation scam and he is on the radar of various investigative agencies including ED. But, Wadettiwar has too much confidence on his contacts across the political spectrum to be bothered about such trivial cases.

Now even institutions like Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts, to have been painted saffron. A Diwali Mela on its premises was inaugurated by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. This institution is headed by an old RSS worker and former journalist Ram Bahadur Rai and has become a den of the RSS. During the meal, Bhagwat met a lot of Sangh workers and officials – for about five minutes each. Bhagwat got public’s feedback and workers got back their honour.

BJP is in power at the Centre for over three years now. It’s expanding rapidly grabbing state after state. The RSS should be happy at its growth curve. Yet, not everything is fine between the BJP and its mother organization, the RSS, an example of which was seen at a dinner organized at Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s residence recently. Besides Mohan Bhagwat half a dozen people including senior functionaries like Suresh Joshi were invited to the sit-in dinner. Bhagwat is learnt to have expressed his concerns at some of the government policies especially the economic ones. This was not taken kindly to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He seems to be already reeling under the fusillade launched by Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha. That is why he reacted sharply when Bhagwat expressed concern over people losing jobs. Modi is learnt to have said that he is PM of the country had the right to make decisions and face their consequences. Bhagwat got so upset at Modi’s belligerence that he left the meal midway and went to another room. The tension between Sangh and its affiliated organizations is now getting reflected in their working as well. Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh has decided to oppose Modi Government’s economic policies in the same way as RSS chief Bhagwat did.

Media always revelled in its role of a watchdog. But, in the fast-changing socio-political milieu, media role too is undergoing a change. It is soon turning out to be a pool of those in power. Amit Shah was invited recently by one of the largest Hindi newspapers of the country for a free-wheeling interaction with its senior editors. As was customary for them, a tape recorder was switched on at the outset itself to record the proceedings for exact reproduction. After the instructions were over, Shah switched off the Dictaphone. When somebody put up an uncomfortable question, Shah ducked the bouncer by snapping, “Your senior editors know what will go into print”. When a senior editor asked his reaction to cow slaughter, he shot back, “PM has already clarified nobody should be harassed in the name of cow protection. I endorse the same”. The newspaper after preparing the report of this media exchange, duly sent it to Amit Shah’s office for approval. To their utter astonishment, the approved version contained some questions, which had not been put up in the meeting.

Parvesh Sahib Singh Varma too is upset at being scolded by the party high command over Bawana by-election debacle. He was made in charge of the seat mainly because Bawana was a Jat-dominated seat. Aam Aadmi Party’s MLA Ved Prakash who had resigned from the party and the seat to join the BJP had been fielded. Both parties had put their prestige at stake here. But, Pravesh did not venture out of the house on the pretext of suffering from dengue though the real reason was Jats’ antipathy to BJP. After BJP lost the polls, both Pravesh and local MP Udit Raj were summoned by Amit Shah. Both were made to wait for hours while despite losing elections, Ved Prakash was called in immediately though he had turned up much later than the two. He was apparently assured that he would soon be adjusted in the party. After that, the two leaders were called in and gave a dressing down by Shah.