The name of the most senior leader in Delhi BJP – Vijay Kumar Malhotra – is being talked about for the post of Karnataka governor, but he wants Punjab for himself. The list also includes the name of Bihar’s Bhumihar leader Dr C P Thakur, but the 80-year-old Thakur has written to the Modi requesting he be allowed to stay active in Bihar politics considering Assembly elections will be held there soon. Belong to the same 80s club, Kalyan Singh had the same request otherwise all plans had been made to send him to Maharashtra. But Kalyan still wants a place for himself in UP politics, and wants to see his son as a minister at the Centre. But he doesn’t enjoy the same about anymore.

Amit Shah’s son’s engagement was held at the YMCA in Gujarat, and Arun Jaitley appeared to be the chief guest for the occasion. Amit Shah touched Jaitley’s feet and asked for his blessings. Several young party leaders were falling over themselves trying to take care of him. Anurag Thakur went to the extent of presenting chholey and baigan bharta on a plate to Jaitley. The finance minister quipped – Anurag, but you get this food at home, too. Get some paneer dish.” It is worth mentioning here that the occasion saw only vegetarian food being served.

Gopichand Hinduja’s 48-year-old son Sanjay Hinduja got engaged in London to Karishma Kapoor’s husband’s first wife Nandita Mahatani’s elder sister Anu Mirchandani. The occasion called for industrialists from all parts of the world. Those present during the occasion included India’s ambassador in the UK Ranjan Mathai, known lawyer Ram Jethmalani, Shilpa Shetty and Rajiv Shukla. The special thing was that Ram Jethmalani gave a long speech to mark the occasion.

Prime Minister Modi has made it clear to BJP MPs that they should stay clear of writing recommendation letters, which means that in a way, the BJP has banned recommendation letters in an unannounced way. While some BJP MPs are worked up about this, non-BJP Parliamentarians and former MPs are writing these letters nineteen to the dozen and action is being taken in the matter. According to government traditions, letters by the MPs are taken seriously and they are informed of the result after a proper action has been taken on the same. Non-BJP leaders are taking advantage of this and they are presenting such letters to the public as proof of their work, while the BJP MPs feel they have got the wrong end of the deal.

It is strange to think that the Hinduja brothers organize a party and prominent politicians were missing. When Gopichand Hinduja celebrated his son’s engagement in London on June 29, the entire who’s-who of Indian and British industrialists was present, for instance, Lakshmi Mittal, Sunil and Rajan Mittal, Ravi Ruia of Essar and so on. Only Shilpa Shetty among film celebrities was present, though. Where prominent politicians from Delhi are concerned, none of them could be seen there, except Rajiv Shukla, who has familial ties with the Hinduja brothers.

Several veteran Sangh leaders can’t seem to digest the way Modi is gung-ho about social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. They somehow feel that the Indian culture may be adversely affected by it. Sources reveal that a formal presentation has been made to the Sangh leaders on behalf of Twitter where an attempt has been made to show how the inventor of Twitter is no one but Valmiki himself. Back then there was a medium such as Twitter by which Jatayu relayed the news of Sita’s abduction to Lord Rama. An attempt was made to tell the Sangh leaders that the information and communications was so robust during Ram Rajya that Twitter must have been inspired by it.

Half-a-dozen Rajya Sabha seats from UP may fall vacant in the coming months. It is being hoped that most of these seats will go to either the SP or candidates supported by the SP. Amar Singh’s Rajya Sabha tenure ends in November sources reveal that he has buried the hatchet and spoken to his old time friend Mulayam Singh. It is also believed that ignoring his cousin brother Prof Ramgopal Yadav and close aide Azam Khan’s advice, Mulayam Singh will strengthen the Thakur leader’s way to the Rajya Sabha from the SP quota. Ajit Singh, who lost this Lok Sabha election from Bagpat is also looking at SP for a seat in the Rajya Sabha. But Netaji can’t stand Ajit Singh and the latter’s ride to Rajya Sabha may not be a smooth one. The number of Mulayam’s party aspirants for the Rajya Sabha is a significant one, too, such as Ashok Bajpai, Revati Raman Singh, Ashok Pradhan, Surendra Nagar and so on.

Ever since the Nizam of Delhi changed, people are finding it tough to reach him. Several BJP politicians who want to become ministers at the Centre just don’t understand how they can really reach out to Modi. Adept at corporate lobbying, a BJP MP from Jharkhand made an unprecedented jump and connected with Narendra Modi’s brother Pankaj Modi. Then one of his officer friends at the PMO told the MP that the Prime Minister doesn’t listen to any family member when it comes to administration matters. And thus, while this move will not benefit him, it could harm him. Now the Parliamentarian can be seen making the rounds to Sushma and Rajnath’s houses.

Arun Jaitley may be considered to be the strongest minister in the present government, but there is a palpable difference in his behaviour nowadays. A few days ago, his room as the Leader of Opposition in the Parliament, his room would be full of people during lunch time. His gregarious nature attracted not only people who liked him, but also people from the Opposition as a large horde of media persons. Like a seasoned host, Jaitley would order delicacies from Old Delhi such as bedmi-alu sabji, imarti and gulab jamun and people became fans of his. There were no less than 50 members for lunch at Jaitley’s office.

Despite initial opposition from the Sangh, it is almost sure that Amit Shah will become BJP’s next party president. Sources reveal that Mohan Bhagwat himself had issues with his name for the seat, asking how both the prime minister and the BJP president are from the same state. But Modi has clearly stated that he is more of a UP face after his win from Varanasi, just like Atal Bihari Vajpayee is from Madhya Pradesh but his political strategies were always about UP. So sure is Amit Shah of becoming the party president that he has already started working on forming his team and there are indications that under him, M J Akbar may become the National General Secretary of the party.