The Congress is showing an exceptionally large heart to late Rajshekhar Reddy’s son and MP Jagmohan Reddy. Recently Jagan has got a proposal from the party high command that he should join the Manmohan Cabinet as a Minister of State. There is talk of him being made the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office and that too with special charge of Telangana. But Jagan does not want to leave his home state of Andhra Pradesh to float in the political winds of Delhi. He knows that if he would stop batting on his home pitch then it would become difficult for him to save his political wicket. So, for the time being, he just wants to concentrate on Andhra politics. Some days ago a Minister in the Rosaiah cabinet resigned in his support. Since Jagan has with him his father’s political legacy, money and young ideas, so in the day to come other Minister’s to can play the move of resigning in his favour. The Congress high command knows about this and so it has set out to clip Jagan’s wings.

It seems Naveen Patnaik has still not recovered from the Bhubanesbar Rajdhani train episode. Recently, Naveen had visited a Bengali journalist friend in Delhi for dinner and during almost the entire stay kept discussion the hijack drama. As soon as the news came that the Naxals have hijacked the Rajdhani Express, Naveen had immediately called up Railways Minister Mamta Banerjee who immediately began cursing CPM. At this Naveen requested Mamta to ensure the safety and security of the passengers without going into who were behind the hijacking. Naveen’s real concern was about the 1,200 Oriya passengers aboard the train. When he found that talking to Mamta would not suffice, he called up Union Home Minister Chidambaram who immediately said – `Maoist people have done it’. Tired by now, Naveen then directly called up the Prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh said – `I cannot understand if the situation is really so serious. God bless you…’ And in such a scenario it was really only God to whom Naveen could look for help.It seems Naveen Patnaik has still not recovered from the Bhubanesbar Rajdhani train episode. Recently, Naveen had visited a Bengali journalist friend in Delhi for dinner and during almost the entire stay kept discussion the hijack drama. As soon as the news came that the Naxals have hijacked the Rajdhani Express, Naveen had immediately called up Railways Minister Mamta Banerjee who immediately began cursing CPM. At this Naveen requested Mamta to ensure the safety and security of the passengers without going into who were behind the hijacking. Naveen’s real concern was about the 1,200 Oriya passengers aboard the train. When he found that talking to Mamta would not suffice, he called up Union Home Minister Chidambaram who immediately said – `Maoist people have done it’. Tired by now, Naveen then directly called up the Prime Minister. Dr. Manmohan Singh said – `I cannot understand if the situation is really so serious. God bless you…’ And in such a scenario it was really only God to whom Naveen could look for help.

It seems the days of singing melancholy songs in BJP are not over yet. The party had still not come out of the shock of Karnataka that in Punjab, the saffron began seeing red. The dissidents have started adopting rigid stances, and they are only waiting for the right moment. And along with Punjab, in Bihar too, the mud stains have started becoming visible. There the opposition camp is once again coming together against Sushil Kumar Modi and the bugle of revolt can be sounded any time.

But it appears that the advisors of Rahul Gandhi were not able to handle this meeting properly. As per the scheduled programme, these owner-editors had earlier been invited to lunch at Rahul’s Tughlaq Lane residence but when they were about to reach there, they were informed that the venue of lunch has been changed to 10 Janpath. Every editor was under the impression that they alone had to establish one-to-one dialogue with the Congress prince because the invitation for lunch had been received by them in such a manner. So when these editors reached 10 Janpath, they were completely surprised on seeing one another. Avik Sarkar and N. Ram clearly made their displeasure known to Rahul. During the entire luncheon session, let alone advising the prince, Avik did not utter a word. N. Ram spoke fluently about the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. Shekhar Gupta also expressed his opinion on more than one issue. And like a curious student, Rahul listened intently to these owner-editors.

Maharashtra is turning out to be quite a minefield for the Congress. The post-poll uncertainty is the chief worry, and it has invited the concern of no less than Manmohan Singh who is usually not too keen on interfering in intra-party affairs. As expected, the good doctor has his own prescription, and this calls for batting for the Union minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is also the head of the party’s campaign committee in Maharashtra . Singh’s calculation is that Shinde’s projection can win the Congress the support of the weaker sections, and counter the threat from the Nationalist Congress Party’s Chhagan Bhujbal. But not everyone is willing to read Singh’s sudden interest in Shinde on such simple terms. Many believe that Singh’s prescription is for an entirely different ailment. Apparently, the PM wants Shinde to be shifted from the power ministry where reforms have not taken off in spite of the PM’s express wishes to accelerate them. Shinde’s stature is what is preventing a direct action. Hence the maha-formula.

As all exit poll surveys indicated the age of Congress NCP pact, the battle for Chief Ministership has begun behind the curtains. There is a proposal to bring Vilasrao Deshmukh back again as the Chief Minister candidate in Maharashtra replacing the present CM Ashok Chavan. But general theory of Congress high command is not to replace any Chief Minister if he secures the victory for the party under his leadership. But the ground for Deshmukh’s return is to form the govt, Congress-NCP need to take more independents into their fold. But one thing is for sure, in Haryana high command is not going to replace Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda no matter how much leaders like Birender Singh, Kiran Chaudhary aspire to take the post.

Things are no longer the same between the Samajwadi Party chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Amar Singh. Once inseparable from each other, the two are rarely seen together these days. The SP’s debacle in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls had created a rift in the relationship. Mulayam had been facing increasing pressure from within his family to take control of things, and not to leave everything to Amar. Then the latter had a kidney problem and was out of active politics for months. In his absence, Ram Gopal Yadav supposedly usurped his position in Mulayam’s circle of trust.
But Amar Singh is too tough a man to take things lying down. He made it clear that he has only two friends: Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Ambani. This confession scared Mulayam stiff. So he sent along his son, Akhil esh, to be with Amar, while he recuperated in Singapore . But there’s no stopping Amar now. He has expressed displeasure over the inclusion of ministers with dubious personal histories into the party. The ground beneath poor Mulayam’s feet seems to be melting away.

BJP is still trying to push their allies Shiv Sena to take Raj Thakrey along to form the govt if situation arises. BJP is not at all happy as this time also Maharashtra Navanirman Sena Chief Raj Thakrey became successful in denting into the vote bank of Shiv Sena. This is the only state where BJP had a fair chance to grab power after a decade of Congress rule. Otherwise there is no question of winning in Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. Before the election it was Lal Krishna Advani’s proposal to take Raj along with Shiv Sena but it could not happen. BJP leadership is annoyed as they are paying the cost due to fight between two Thakrey brothers.

Mamta Banerjee takes objection in anything which is related to ‘red’. Perhaps she doesn’t like to use the word ‘red’ letter day. Recently when she flagged off the much awaited Duronto train from Kolkata, one very senior railway officer said it’s a red letter day for the railways. Immediately after this utterance he realized what mistake he had made. Correcting himself he said it should be ‘green’ letter day. The green colour symbolizes the colour of party symbol of the Railway Minister. Mamta often uses this colour for the govt advertisement. Even the new train also contain green colour. Someone jokingly remarked that if she comes to power in West Bengal , she will definitely vanish the colour ‘red’ wherever it is used. No wonder if Saturday and Sunday in the calendars is asked to painted green.

Home Minister P.Chidambaram has got installed the biometric attendance control systems in North Block to ensure the attendance regularization of staff across ranks. Even Chidambaram himself religiously uses the attendance system when he enters or exits from the office. The idea is to ensure the stipulated working hours for all employees. Even if anyone comes late due to traffic or other reasons, he or she have to compensate the time in the evening. The idea is noble but how Chidambaram will control the staff who bunk some hours in between as well and also people who remain in office but are lethargic in doing their own work?