Are the Drums of Destiny rolling for Amit Shah to take a quantum leap? The bumblebees and humming birds swirling about Modi say he is going to make the most stunning change of guard in his cabinet on or around August 17. The red hot rumour is that Modi is likely to make his most trusted lieutenant Amit Shah the next full-time defence minister, a ministry that has not seen one since Manohar Parrikar was shunted out to Goa. It would be a typical Machiavellian move by Modi. First, since Shah is in any case coming into Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, he could be made the leader of the house and Arun Jaitley relieved of his job. Though the BJP does not have a majority in the upper house, Shah’s typical political temper could give the party a sharper edge. Some say Modi wants Jaitley to focus more on his prime responsibility of the finance ministry after getting released from upper house duties. In any case, Shah’s presence in the Rajya Sabha would bring in more system in the functioning of the BJP MPs. Besides, it is also known that whenever the Parliament is in session, Modi spends the maximum time there, but he is seen more in his Parliament House office rather than in the house itself. It is being speculated that he wants Shah to bridge that gap. Being defence minister would ensure that Shah regularly visits both houses and keep his hawk eyes on the BJP MPs. However, some top leaders are dismissing this as a mere rumour, for they insist that instead of eyeing a ministry, Shah is finalising his strategies for the upcoming polls in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. These naysayers say also that if Shah becomes a minister, he will not remain the party president. So with the 2019 polls just two years ahead, will Modi take such a huge gamble? Let’s see how the saffron road takes its turn!

The three political engineers behind the BJP’s massive win in the Northeast deserve to be rewarded, think the mandarins. These three are Ram Madhav, Muralidhar Rao and Bhupendra Yadav. The Monsoon Session of the Parliament ends on August 11. There is news in the air that the next week, that is, around August 17, the Modi cabinet is in for a major haul. Now, many important ministries are lying vacant, with some senior ministries holding these as additional charges along with their primary ministerial job. Manohar Parrikar’s departure has seen the defence ministry without a full-time minister. With the sudden demise of Anil Madhav Dave, the environment ministry is lacking its shepherd. Venkaiah Naidu had two important ministries under him, urban development and information & broadcasting, and these two will fall vacant. Besides, scuttlebutt is that health minister JP Nadda will be sent to Himachal Pradesh as the CM-face of the BJP in the coming polls. Hailing from Amalapuran district of Andhra Pradesh, Ram Madhav has in recent times successfully under some damage control missions on behalf of Modi-Shah duo, so it is likely that he will be brought into Rajya Sabha to the seat that fell vacant on Anil Madhav Dave’s demise. The tenure of that seat is till 2022. Likewise, with Naidu vacating his seat, Muralidhar Rao will have to step into the seat from Rajasthan. So it seems to be a week of prize distribution ceremony soon, though it is also being said that some ineffective leaders may get the boot.

After repeated raids on Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, who is the next target? Yes, you guessed it right! The same man who for long, is on the watch-list of investigating agencies and who considers India a ‘Banana Republic’, that is Robert Vadra. Vadra’s business partner Sanjay Bhandari is being grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is learned to have made startling revelations. His property worth Rs 21 crore has been attached by the ED under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The act has a provision of imprisonment up to 10 years. ED officials are scrutinizing documents of various properties located in Dubai and London including a very expensive property in Brixton Square, London. All these properties have been purchased through Bhandari only who is learned to have agreed to turn an approver. The reason is Congress continues to be on a weak wicket and doesn’t stand a chance to return to power in 2019 and Bhandari doesn’t want to be forced to stay out of the country like Lalit Modi. Sources claim that a senior journalist of an English daily is acting as a mediator between Finance Ministry and Bhandari. The agencies are ready to bring details of Vadra’s properties on record but are waiting only for a go ahead from the top. The Government is apparently looking for an opportune moment when the Congress-led opposition will try to pin it down on some issue, it would make Vadra findings public.

Rahul Gandhi has a knack for getting himself involved in unnecessary controversies. At a time when he was asking PM to come clean on China issue, he is finding himself at receiving end after party’s statement on his meeting with Chinese envoy was found at variance with his own version of the event. In fact, the issue was fanned as much by Chinese ambassador himself. Sources claim that when Rahul invited Chinese ambassador to his residence to understand the issue, he also called the Bhutan ambassador for a briefing at the same time. When Chinese ambassador reached Rahul’s residence for the meeting, he was taken aback to find Bhutanese ambassador already sitting there. The result was the meeting scheduled for 45 minutes, ended within 15 minutes. Chinese ambassador, who normally, refrains from the media, duly sent a photo of his meeting with Rahul to various media organizations. Media obviously lapped it up. Bhutanese ambassador too sent a press note of the meeting to Paro. Rahul wanted to understand the issue but in his naiveté, messed up the whole incident.

President Pranab Mukherjee will soon leave behind the splendor of the Raisina Hills, but not leave behind his political ambitions. Those who know him from up close say that he is now fully geared to steer the stalled Congress ship out of the sands, and that perhaps he alone can. And thus it is that those party leaders who are upset with Rahul Gandhi’s wayward as well as autocratic ways of command are forming a new clique around him. As it is, Dada has always considered Priyanka more politically matured than Rahul. No wonder then that Dada had invited Priyanka over lunch at his presidential palace and had long tete-a-tete with the charming lady. It is a measure of the man’s political acumen that he has maintained fair relations with leaders of all political parties, including the ruling BJP. During a recent book release event PM Modi became a tad emotional during his speech and said Pranab da is like a father to him. As a fully mature politician, Pranab da has always believed in following the rulebook. Which is why his relationship with Modi has remained unsullied till date. So it is being speculated that Pranab da will soon leave his presidential coat hanging in Raisina Hills and take up the rudders to get the Congress to see brighter coasts.

So when will Congress crown prince take over the crown finally? Sources in 10 Janpath say that Mamma Sonia has for a long time been goading Pappu to take over the reins of the party as full-fledged President. But he has been hedging it. Sources also allude that to affirm Rahul’s supremacy in the party, Mamma has not been meeting top political leaders of the party for some time now. As it is, she cannot escape meeting top leaders of the other parties in the Opposition Axis. So the question is why is Rahul shying away from becoming party president? Scuttlebutt is that even now it is Rahul who is taking all the major decisions in the party, but he is keeping top party mandarins away from the doings. Apparently, there is a clique around him and Rahul just goes by their suggestions. But whenever he lands in trouble, he puts the blame on Mamma’s close lieutenants. May be this is the reason why Sonia is staying away from the frontline and wants Rahul to take full responsibility.

Congress crown prince Rahul Gandhi seems all set to reinvent himself. Right after his return from meeting his granny in Italy, the first thing he did was to scrutinise the detailed but confidential poll surveys from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It transpires that Rahul had entrusted a well-known survey agency to smell out the opinions of the common people, as well as party cadre, in two separate surveys, as to who should be the faces of the party in the two states in the upcoming polls. In Rajasthan, the contention was between the old war horse Ashok Gehlot and Young Turk firebrand Sachin Pilot. In a surprise reversal for Pilot, veteran Gehlot romped home. They say the survey shows that Gehlot was handed a 71 per cent figure by party workers as against Pilot’s paltry 29 per cent! Much the same was seen in the general public’s response, who prized Gehlot with a 64 per cent margin as against Pilot’s 36 per cent. But the high drama is that CP Joshi is mightily annoyed with RaGa for not even keeping his name in the contention along with Pilot’s and Gehlot’s. Not even as an ‘also ran’ guy! Anyway, after the survey results were out, Pilot met Rahul and explained that it is natural that the person who had once been the Chief Minister of the state had carried more favours among those who polled, and he has asked Gandhi to give him some more time to work on Ground Zero!

And now about Madhya Pradesh. There were four colourful contenders there in the Congress’ secret survey. Veterans Kamal Nath, Digvijay Singh, Kanti Lal Bhuriya and the MP Young Turk Jyotiraditya Scindia. The results were a political temblor: while Nath and Scindia came neck to neck at the top of the heap, Bhuriya muzzled down the loudmouth controversy guru Digvijay Singh. And there seemed to be some parity in the opinions of the party workers and common voters. Shockingly, 14 per cent of party workers and 30 per cent of general voters favoured the name of some other leader than the four officially enlisted. It seems from the poll that in recent times, Digvijay Singh has sullied his public image. On the same scale, the image of Kamal Nath is largely that of an industrialist and, of course, Scindia carries the baggage of being a ‘Maharaja’, the scion of the Gwalior princedom. Give and take a few votes here and there, Bhuriya has emerged as a tribal leader in a state where 30 per cent of voters are tribal. But his Achilles Heel is that he is hardly known for his public contacts and is hardly a noticeable face in election campaigns. So it seems that Rahul has advised him to become more active in his public standings.

The Congress is now pulling out all the stops in its efforts at an image makeover. Post the poll blast of 2014, when the party set up a review committee to analyse the reasons behind its massive debacle, the Anthony Committee clearly said in its report that nothing but the overtly pro-Muslim image has caused the party such a crush. And yet, nothing much changed and the party put the report in the deep-freezer, conveniently. 10 Janpath and RG’s office seemed to take an ostrich view of the storm sweeping by. But recent developments have forced the people around the High Command to do a rethink. So the party has finally decided that the Muslim spokespersons of the organisation seen daily on television need to take a ‘long vacation’. And some perceived pro-Hindu faces be given a rocket launch to stem the saffron tide. Known dramatis personae such as Shakeel Ahmad, Meem Afzal, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Salman Khurshid have been told to stay off the idiot box for the moment – a long moment, it seems – and a committee has been set up to identify some pro-Hindu faces to faceoff with the saffronites in public But for the Congress the problem is that Rahul Gandhi has already set up eight or nine committees within the party on different issues, and the party knows well what has been the end-result of such committees.

This is politics. The front-runner for the BJP’s presidential candidate, Sushma Swaraj has suddenly been engulfed by the quicksand at 7 Race Course Road. And Modi has piped up a so-far insignificant name, Ramnath Kovind, as the dark horse in the race. By the time Kovind filed his nomination, with support from 28 parties, it was more or less clear who would replace Pranab Dada at Raisina Hills. But is it that Kovind has been propped up simply because of his Dalit background? Or is there a plan to quell the raging Dalit agitation in Modi’s Gujarat through this move? And is it an advance poll management plan of the Modi-Shah duo to bring the now enraged Dalits in its fold for the 2019 General Elections? The scuttlebutt is that the Indore-based spiritual guru Bhaiyyuji Maharaj has had a huge role to play in Kovind coming from nowhere to win the race. Pertinently, Maharaj has a very strong nexus with Nagpur. He is also close to Modi and the latter has given Maharaj the responsibility of setting up the Sant Nagari (Saints City) in Sabarkantha, Gujarat. Sources coo that even as he was the governor of Bihar, this April Kovind had met Maharaj at his Indore residence for a long and private tete-a-tete, and it is only after Maharaj egged Modi, that Kovind suddenly emerged beaming, holding hands with Modi and other relegated BJP stalwarts like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.