Ever since Rajiv Prasad Rudy has become the head of Parliamentary Committee on Energy, he is not happy. He feels he may not get a berth in Modi’s Cabinet. On the other hand, Chhattisgarh’s Ramesh Bains and Himachal’s J P Nadda seem to be extremely happy with it; neither of the two has been given the reins of any Parliamentary committee, which means there are still chances for them to be included in the next reshuffle in Modi’s Cabinet.

The Prime Minister will take off for the US after his Japan trip. It is being said that that main reason behind Modi’s US trip is to attract investments. Modi will be meeting several CEOs of investment companies during his trip and will also meet the heads of financial companies such as Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Black Rocks and J P Morgan. Modi is also excited about getting investments for the defence sector because investors have not shown too much interest in the sector despite the announcement of 100 per cent FDI.

Amar Singh is on a foreign trip with his entire family. Last week, they flew down to London from Delhi in a direct flight and went to Canada, from where they headed to Hungary. At this point in time, it is said Amar is in Hungary with his family. It is believed that on September 4, he will return to Delhi from Budapest.

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s second son Prateek Yadav may not have made a foray into the political scene as yet, but seeing his wife Aparna’s active role in social work these days, it is clear how ready she is for a role in active politics. Akhilesh and Prateek’s wives have one thing in common – they both belong to Uttarakhand; both sons had love marriages. Akhilesh’s wife may be a member of Parliament, but now whenever Aparna goes out, she has a similarly large entourage. During the ‘Be Aware campaign’ in Lucknow schools, Aparna could be seen in a teacher’s role and not only did the give the girl students a few tips on self-defense but also gave a long lecture on how to conduct oneself.

The Congress coalition may have outdone the BJP in Bihar’s recent elections, but after the results were out, Nitish Kumar and Meira Kumar complained about Bihar’s Congress President Ashok Choudhury to Sonia Gandhi. The two politicians complained that if Choudhury had changed his attitude, their coalition could have won two more seats, too. Actually, Nitish had asked Ashok Choudhury to give a ticket to Rashmi Verma, but when Choudhury didn’t see reason in it. Rashmi Verma went to the BJP and won the Narkatiyaganj constituency for the BJP. At the same time, Meira Kumar wanted a ticket of Mohaniya seat for someone close to her but Choudhury didn’t agree and the coalition lost the seat.

Five names are ahead in the race for the next secretary in the Cabinet. These include Alok Rawat from the 1977 Manipur cadre; Naved Masood from the 1977 UP cadre, Madhav Lal from the 1977 batch of Jammu & Kashmir cadre, P K Sinha from the 1977 UP batch and Sourav Chandra from the 1978 batch of the UP cadre.

While it hasn’t been decided what organization will be formed in place of the Planning Commission that was dissolved, Narendra Modi has almost decided that the new body will be headed by Suresh Prabhu.

Political activities have sped up sensing the Assembly elections in Jharkhand. The BJP does not want to let this opportunity go in any way. There are whispers about new coalitions in the state. Jharkhand’s Rajya Sabha member and closely associated with Reliance, Parimal Nathwani wants BJP’s coalition in the state to happen with Sudesh Mahato’s AJSU. On the other hand, BJP political leader Raghuvar Das wants the party to fight it out on its own. A big section of the BJP is of the opinion that Babulal Marandi’s party should be merged with the BJP and seeing Marandi’s image of being upright and hardworking, he should be projected as the next chief ministerial candidate. It is being said that Modi and Amit Shah himself concur with the thinking. Because Rajnath Singh, who has brought Arjun Munda forward in his political career, sees his own ground a bit shaky, it is possible that Munda may have to fight for his very existence this time.

Kaptan Singh Solanki may well have got the top post in Haryana as the governor, but his habit of being in active politics continues. If sources are to the believed, Solanki is pulling strings to get Haryana’s reins in the hands of a politician Ram Prasad Rajauria, a leader from Muraina and one who is close to him. He is also trying to get Maharashtra party reins to a close politician Mamata.

According to a survey by the Wall Street Journal, Narendra Modi has been voted as India’s best dressed PM. The special thing about this is that he has left behind Jawahar Lal Nehru in the race, who managed to garner a mere 5.7 per cent votes as against Modi’s 87 per cent. Atal Bihari Vajpyee got merely 2.8 per cent votes, while Indira Gandhi, who was known for her fashion sense and handloom saris, got merely 3 per cent votes. Manmohan Singh didn’t even get one per cent of the votes. So Modi has entered the annals of fame by being the best dressed PM ever in India.