The Congress has got a new lease on life with the 2G verdict, whereas the political game of BJP has come out of curtain. Trusted sources suggest that the 2G scam case took a new turn when a declared row took shape between Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia and ED chief Karnail Singh. Sources claim that the Center was pressurizing ED to slow down actions against Southern politicians on the radar of the ED. But ED wanted to maintain the speed of the strict action on the leaders and businessmen coming under the purview of money laundering. If one flips the pages of the 2G spectrum licenses case, CBI special court judge OP Saini had rejected the plea of ​​BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on February 4, in which the former Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram were to be taken into wraps. On February 2, 2017, this special court acquitted the Maran brothers, too. The court was initially scheduled to announce its verdict on October 25, 2017, but then judge Saini asked for some more time and the date was pushed further to November 7. On 7th, the judge fixed the date for December 5. In the meanwhile, the assembly elections of Gujarat and Himachal came round the corner and hence finally the verdict was pronounced on December 21. Interestingly, on November 6, the Prime Minister went to Chennai to hold a detailed meeting with DMK chief Karunanidhi. Mind it, that Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and his wife Dayalu Ammal were accused in the 2G case. It should also be kept in mind that earlier the verdict on 2G case was scheduled to come on November 7. One more interesting fact is that Anil Ambani’s company ADAG was also under the traps of the scam. And Anil’s company has got the contract of Rafale Aircraft from the Ministry of Defense. In such a scenario, it was vital for Anil and his company to set free from the whole issue.

Rahul Gandhi, the brand new president of “Grand Old Party” Congress, wants to give a new dimension to his presidential shift. With his core team, he is not only making new strategies, but also bringing upfront some important challenges before Narendra Modi, on the back of which political scenario takes a rough turn. Rahul is happy that his ‘Soft Hindutva’ card was successful in Gujarat. Now he would like place the same bet in the coming Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections, too. His ‘sacred thread’ (Janeu) politics will hit a new high and he will go about bowing heads across temples. Ashok Gehlot, who is among the special trustees of Rahul, has been visiting some of the religion gurus and babas for quite some time now, who is on a declared fight against the BJP. Prior to the Gujarat assembly elections, Gehlot had approached Asaram Bapu through one of his special disciples, and asked of him to woo his thousands of followers, spread across Gujarat, in favour of the Congress party. Sources say that as soon as Amit Shah came to know of Gehlot’s approach, he immediately contacted Asaram appealing him not to take any wrong decisions in haste, and ensured that everything would be fine when the right time came. But, as the media calls him “Jhansaram”, Asaram is in loggerheads with the ruling party, and so his inclination is now more visible towards the Congress. Sources reveal that beside Asaram, Gehlot’s messengers are also in touch with Ram Rahim and Rampal. Apart from this, Congress is on a hunt for all those babas who are in some way or the other in loggerhead with the BJP. After Rahul’s presidential incarnation, whether the baba politics be able to connect the party with the Gods of vote-bank, will be a true test of the strengths and influences of those Babas.

The Modi-Shah duo is thrilled with the results of Gujarat, so the rumours are rife about who is going to be the next Gujarat CM. There was some talk about Amit Shah himself being anointed CM. But sources tell us that Shah had declined this and explained to his confidants that if he does become Gujarat CM, it will add so much firepower to the Rahul Gandhi arsenal, who is sure to link that to the recent expose on son Jay Shah’s alleged corrupt deals. The name that has emerged the strongest is Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala. Apparently, he was given a call from Delhi and told to wrap all his important pending work before December 18, for he might have to resign his seat. This was shocking news for the ardent Bhakt of Modi. Later he was told that the party is contemplating making him the Gujarat CM. That too did not sit well with the senior politician. The 78-year old knows well that in Modi’s BJP, the rule is that all leaders above 75 are shown the door to the toothless Margdarshak Mandal. In fact, the reason given to the previous CM Anandiben Patel for her ouster was also this age factor. Vajubhai is a man from the backward community and has won seven times from the Rajkot constituency. In fact he quit the constituency as a ‘safe’ seat for Modi in 2002. He is known as a grounded person who has remained honest. He is the apple of Modi’s eye, and he had been the speaker of the Gujarat assembly between 2012 and 2014, when he was sent to Karnataka. Informed insiders say that by selecting him for the post, Modi wants to send a message to the backward communities that the BJP had always been deeply concerned about them, so they should not fall in Congress’ emotional blackmailing!

The fierce enemy of the Gandhi family, Subramanian Swamy has established his own brand of politics, in which he does not care about ‘party-line, propriety. He speaks his mind, and Twitter has emerged as his hot favoutite handle to air his ire as well as his pleasure. This is why when the Swamy released a tweet on a member of the Gandhi family, Varun Gandhi, the party commanders were caught with the jaws dropping. Swamy recently tweeted: There is one politician who can gather large crowds in his rallies without any help from the party and that is Varun Gandhi. He has a bright future!” Naturally, the tweet went viral, and the ultra-passionate soldiers of Modi’s social media army started trolling him. “First you clarify whether Varun Gandhi is a Hindu. You tell us that and we shall save your reply.” Swamy shot back: “I know Varun as a devotee of Lord Hanuman. Every morning he worships Bajrang bali for one hour, without fail!” May be the politicians are not able to judge Varun Gandhi’s new politics, but he has ensured that the rebels in the party do not cast a shadow on him.

It seems all the big opposition parties are gearing up to protest the use electronic voting machines (EVMs) after the Gujarat poll results are out. Sources say that if BJP marks a massive win, they might call for the boycott of the Karnataka election. Congress, AAP, Mamata Banerjee, Lalu Prasad, Mayawati, the communist parties have all been clamouring for return to the paper ballot. They argue that even in such a big country as the US, voting is by paper ballots. They point out that in the recent civic polls in Uttar Pradesh, BJP has won 14 out of the 16 Mayoral seats, for which polls were held using EVMs. Contrarily, and remarkably, in the 438 City Council president polls, which were held using paper ballots, BJP got a drubbing, losing in as many as 337. The same feature has been seen in all the elections to UP’s local body elections: wherever paper ballots were used the BJP was washed out. In fact, a senior Congress has raised the question why the Election Commission shifted out its IT Cell in a hurry to Ahmedabad a year and half ago. Why have the EC started its new informatics centre in Ahmedabad, he asks, and entrusted the work to a private company? This technology can be used to analyse and process EVM voting data. He says also that the EC must reveal the ownership of this company. Congress is already pointing fingers at a top Gujarat industrialist who is a self-declared Modi supporter.

Rahul Gandhi had readily consented to speak at a Summit of a top English newspaper group in New Delhi. He was quick to assess that if he did not attend, all the glory would corner by expert stage performers like Modi and former US President Barack Obama, and Rahul would lose his sheen. Rahul was slated to attend this high profile summit with Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is also a known family friend of the owners of the media group. The organisers had kept two seats reserved for them right in the front row. Incidentally, Rahul’s bro-in-law Robert Vadra was also supposed to attend the summit and his seat had been allocated a row behind Rahul’s. However, Vadra reached the auditorium early and casually requested the organisers to be given a seat next to Rahul’s, as he said he had some urgent things to discuss with the latter. When Rahul reached his seat, he was a bit shaken at this musical chair game. Sources reveal that throughout the meeting, Rahul remained in conversation with Jyotiraditya, while masking his clear unease, Vadra kept on talking on his cell phone all the while. So is Rahul now openly distancing himself brother-in-law Robert Vadra?

Congress leaders had never even dreamt that Shehzad Poonawalla, whose only claim to fame is his relationship with the Gandhi Nehru family, would put Gandhi family scion Rahul Gandhi’s coronation under a cloud. It is well known that Shahzad’s brother Tehseen Poonawalla had married Priyanka Gandhi’s sister-in-law, that is, her husband Robert Vadra’s cousin sister. Shehzad has had a short but interesting political career. Before entering politics he completed a grooming course about how to speak in public and how to be seen. He had been vice president of the Pune unit of NSUI, the Congress’ students wing. He formally entered Congress in 2008 as a member of the party’s research team. In his Tweeter handle, he describes himself as a Nehruvian-Gandhian, civil rights activist, TedEx speaker and a columnist. He further says “My religion is Islam, culture is Hindu and ideology is Indian.” Shahzad used to take care of Rajeev Shukla work when the later became Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the Manmohan Singh government. That is why a lot of people are feeling that his recent diatribe is an expression of the covert Rahul VS Priyanka war. Shehzad is known to be a friend of the Congress leaders who like Priyanka. Priyanka had been active in almost all elections in Uttar Pradesh till now, at least in Gandhi family’s pocket Burroughs Amethi and Raebareli. But in the recently held local body elections in the state, Priyanka did not campaign at all, that is been attributed as one of the reasons for the complete rout of the party in Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency Amethi. Thus, Shehzad’s fulminations are being seen as an undeclared war between Rahul and Priyanka. Earlier too, Shehzad, while being a member of the party, embarrassed leaders like Ajay Maken and Manish Tiwari. Tehseen Poonawalla might have distanced himself from his brother but it’ll be very difficult for the Rahul camp to get better of ‘shehzada’ who is being considered as one of the closest Advisors of Lalu Yadav’s son Tejaswi Yadav.

The central government has cancelled the DAVP account of two editions of a multiple-city daily newspaper with a pronounced right-wing leaning in Uttar Pradesh. The government says that the newspaper has fudged the circulation figures of the newspapers to extract higher rates from the Centre’s ministry of information and broadcasting. Immediately after, the owner of the paper and his Political Editor reached the office of the concerned minister to present their point of view, Yes, they agreed, there was some ‘minor mistakes’ in the facts and figures, but then did that warrant such a major punitive measure? Besides, the owner dangled the other carrot: “Besides, we are being tainted as a saffron paper. At which the Mantri shot back, “Well so not you are free to sing the Congress song!” The owner, however, insisted that they just cannot do that, since the core of their thinking is aligned with the RSS and the BJP The mantra beamed a smile at this, stood up and folded his hands, expressing helplessness. It is learnt now that the owner of the paper is planning prayers at the Prime Minister’s Office.

For a second time in 10 years, the winter session of the Parliament is set to wrap up in a brief duration. Once considered the largest temple of democracy, the Parliament today is seemingly in the process of becoming a formality to Indian politics. Since 2014, when the Modi government has taken possession of the Nizam of Delhi, almost 10 states have witnessed Assembly Elections. But the much debated recent delay of the Parliament session can be crowned only to the upcoming, and much awaited, Gujarat Assembly polls. Currently the BJP is playing on a weak wicket in Gujarat while its oppositions are at the front-foot. Perhaps due to this the winter session has shrunk, but its declared duration has now crossed the 2017 boundary, entering the New Year 2018. Generally, the winter session of Parliament used to be held in the last week of December, but this tradition has been altered this time. Playing spoilsport, this winter session seems to be knocking the ‘Happy’ out of the ‘New Year’ celebrations of many MPs. According to sources, many MPs were all packed-up to celebrate the New Year abroad with their families, while many were planning to holiday in some or the other part within the country itself. Due to the fear of ‘Principal’ Modi, many MPs of the ruling party are now cancelling their tickets, whilst quietly cursing the coinciding calendar, and instead gearing up to formulate the new tomorrow of democracy in the ‘school’ of Parliament.

The Congress celebrated the hundredth birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with great fanfare throughout the country. In a similar, the Bihar Congress too put into action its celebration at the Krishna Memorial of Patna, but on November 22 instead of November 19 to which very few Congressmen turned up. Furious at the low strength of the program, Bihar Congress in-charge K L Sharma fast-paced his speech and immediately left the premise. After his exit, Congress MP Ranjita Ranjan took over the mic, and then the celebration witnessed an unexpected turn of event. In flow of speech, the MP called Indira Gandhi a ‘dictator’ and that was not the end of it. She added that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has similar characteristics, i.e. he too is a dictator. The words of Ranjita created a hullabaloo in the Memorial Hall. The fuss was to the extent that when Akhilesh Singh (who was once a close aide of Lalu and became a Minister at Centre with his blessings but later joined Congress) stood up to speak, the loud noise muted him. He then pleaded the gathering to quiet, saying, “I have memorized my speech and the commotion will make me forget it.” Such was the ‘exceptional’ tribute to Indira Gandhi by Bihar Congress.