The coming Assembly elections in Bihar are nothing less than a test by fire for Modi-Shah duo. BJP’s insider survey of likeable politicians, Sushil Modi has tumbled down in the list. But a prominent party leader at the Centre, who is also considered to be extremely reliable by Modi, is advocating Sushil Modi’s name as the chief ministerial candidate. At the same time, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, and Ravi Shankar Prasad are emerging as Modi’s confidantes. There was a time when Radha Mohan Singh was considered to be a pillar of strength for the Rajnath camp. But loyalties are conditional and time-dependent in politics. Thus, the way Modi praised Radha Mohan with an open heart; there is speculation that Radha Mohan might be a candidate for chief ministership from the BJP. Provided the NDA wins necessary seats to get a majority.

At a time when Barnd-Modi is fast losing glitter, the upcoming Bihar elections have become a prestige issue for team-Shah. Even as Lalu and Nitish are still not great pals, they are obviously singing the same tune. Recently, BJP has conducted a survey. The results of the survey are quite alarming, as Modi’s popularity has nosedived to 64 percent in the last 11 months since the Lok sabha elections. At that time it was 82 percent. Even caste equations in the state appear to be favouring united janata parivar. Yadvav-Muslim-Kurmi-Mahadalit combine and a few forward castes are showing inclination towards Lalu-Nitish and their combined votes amount to a little over 50 percent of the total votes. Internal fight within the state unit of BJP is at its peak and if elections are held now, then BJP has to compromise with only 96 assembly seats.

Since he has been shifted from ministry of railways to law on account of under performance leader from Karnataka Sadanand Gowda has become very active. Of late he has initiated processes quite well to establish good relation between government and judiciary. On a regular basis he keeps track of judges and has become the pivotal link between government and judiciary. Sources reveal that on the Good Friday day when eight of judges expressed unwillingness to attend the dinner hosted by the Prime Minister, Mr Gowda took personal interest and was successful in getting six of them to agree to attend the dinner.

It seems new sprouts have sprung in the MODIfied Saffron politics, as preparations are on to award two party stalwarts – LK Advani and Murli manohar Joshi -, who are considered to be the centre point of anti-Modi lobby. Sources reveal that Modi himself indicated to Advani that he would be NDA’s candidate for Rashtrapati Bhawan in 2017. So if once he is declared NDA’s candidate, it would be certain that iron man of BJP will climb the Raisina Hills. Modi also wants to present Joshi as the Vice President. The election for Vice President too will take place in 2017, but journey for Joshi would not be that easy as ruling NDA do not have the numbers in its favour and thus would need support of opposition members.

The Land Bill has become a matter of prestige for Modi government. The government’s thinktank is of the opinion that if the Land Acquisition Bill does not take the form of an Act, investors might see red. Even if you leave aside big, foreign investors, the truth is that ever since there has been an ordinance on the Land Bill, none of the prominent government departments such as the railways or defence have made any sort of land acquisition. Big power companies – even the state governments – are wary of acquiring land. They are not confident about the ordinance; their worry is that if the ordinance does not change into law, they might have to face several legal issues. In such circumstances, the Modi government is facing the big challenge to get the bill passed during the coming Parliament session, which starts on April 20.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given a hearty welcome at the City of Lights, also known as Paris. French President Francois Hollande had intended to invite Modi for a boat ride down the River Seine and give a lavish dinner at the Elysee Palace. But the Indian embassy in the country cited the prime minister’s busy schedule and programmes, which put an end to possibility of such events. After the Rs 10 lakh suit episode, Modi’s core team has become even more careful and wary about his image. That is why the Indian embassy at Paris had strict directions to focus more on Modi’s UNESCO programme, where he will be speaking about Shri Aurobindo. Apart from this, the prime minister will also visit the memorials built in memory of the Indian soldiers who had died a martyr’s death during World War II.

One of the Rajya Sabha seats from Uttarakhand had become vacant after the sudden demise of Congress leader Manorama Sharma. Harish Rawat had played a crucial role in bringing Manorama Sharma to the Rajya Sabha. When the seat became vacant, Rawat wanted it to be given to his wife. Thus, he arrived in Delhi and met Sonia Gandhi claiming that as the seat became vacant due to death of a female leader, it should be again given to a lady. However, Rahul and Sonia Gandhi thought that the seat should go to Raj Babbar as he has contributed immensely to the Party. So, despite his personal wish, Rawat decided to play the role of a loyal party member and became content with Raj Babbar’s candidature.

It seems that the rumours about former Railways minister and Trinamool leader Dinesh Trivedi’s joining BJP has finally been set to rest. Sources close to Trivedi reveal that recently Dinesh Trivedi got a referendum held in his parliamentary constituency as to what would be his political future if he leaves Trinamool to join BJP and fight elections from the same constituency? The results came as a shock to Trivedi himself as he was shown to lose by 2.5 lakh votes. This also confirmed that at present, the Muslim and rural voters from West Bengal are together and rallying behind Mamata. Needless to say that Dinesh Trivedi has understood the ground realities.

The increasing demands of alliance partners in Bihar, has caused a kink in BJP. Taking the advantage of diminishing magic of Modi and Shah, the alliance partners have increased the size of their demand list. Ram Vilas Paswan alone is not ready to accept anything less than 40 seats for his Lok Janshakti Party. Upendra Kushwaha has taken a step further and is asking for 20 seats. Meanwhile, Jitan Ram Manjhi, the former CM of Bihar, has sought 35 seats for his newly formed party Hindustani Awami Morcha (HAM). BJP on the other hand, wants Manjhi to join the saffron party along with his supporters, which Manjhi has denied. He says that he can join BJP on the assurance that he will be nominated as the Chief Minister designate. This is not acceptable to BJP. Sources say that BJP has proposed to give 15 seats to Manjhi as per the laws of alliance. However, there has been no word from Manjhi on the said proposal.

Those who think that Shazia Ilmi’s breaking away with Arvind Kejriwal at the last moment and joining hands with BJP was a big mistake, then it’s a misconception. Shazia is doing well in BJP. Sources from the party disclose that when an industrialist recently said to Ilmi, “You did a big mistake by leaving Arvind’s party, look where he has reached?” Shazia’s reply to this was that, “No, I am quite comfortable here, none of my work is being stalled here, if you too need something to be done please tell me?”