Now it is no longer a secret that for the vice-president’s post, 10, Janpath’s choice is Sushil Kumar Shinde and not Hamid Ansari. The way Shinde has got a clean chit in Adarsh scam, the one thing that has become clear is that there will be a new sunrise for his political career. If, unfortunately, Shinde loses the race for vice-president, it is very possible that he will sit on the chief minister’s chair in Maharashtra. Ten, Janpath is not very happy with the way current Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan is working. The person who is happy with him is the prime minister himself and Dr Manmohan Singh is willing to make him a part of the Cabinet even today.

And it is not just the Congress. Those who are among the well-wishers of Pranab da include a few non-Congress chief ministers, who are trying to convince Sangma that if possible, he should try to take back his nomination. Regarding this, the meeting between Jayalalithaa and Sangma is being considered significant.

Nitish Kumar is now preparing himself for double comfort from politics and power. And in any case, when it is about getting comfortable, his socialism, Lohia-ism and JP-ism has never come in the way. So, his talks and being pally with Congressman Shakeel Ahmed may feel like a wrong note in the opera. But Nitish has made up his mind to bid adieu to the BJP on the pretext of Modi. But it is also possible that just like his double game earlier on, Nitish may stay with the BJP in Bihar and is dreaming on sharing power with the Congress in the Centre. Nitish knows that the verdict on cases against Lalu may come in the next two to three months and somewhere down the line, the Congress also wants to shake its hands off Lalu. So, in the changed scheme of things, it is mutually beneficial for both the Congress and Nitish to be with each other.

If administration is an art, then Congress is the current university in it. Not only does the Congress know how to run the government, with its double-edged sword, it also knows how to strait-jacket, manoeuver, scare and control the non-Congress governments. Take the fresh Madhya Pradesh incident, for instance. The state will face elections next year. So, the Congress preparations are already on. Income tax raids have been happening on all those people who are close to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and his wife Sadhana. In the days to come, using a few signatures that were got from the raids, several people and families may have to face CBI investigation. The business lobby in the state is in shock. They can hear the sound of power from Delhi loud and clear, and know the message – they may support the current BJP government, but in a limit. So after Yeddyurappa, is Shivraj Singh Chauhan the next target for the Congress?

Indifferent to his candidature for the President’s post, what is Dr APJ Abdul Kalam doing nowadays? Apart from some important travel, he is giving finishing touches to his autobiography. It is believed that the book may hit the market two-three months from now.

Propagating a new socialism in the country, Samajwadi leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has shown his true colours after all. At the cost of friendship with Mamata, he struck such a shrewd political deal with the Congress. The Congress is also ready to give him the defence portfolio. But Netaji wants more posts in lieu of the support. So much so that he is even hoping his brother Prof Ramgopal Yadav will be given the vice-president’s post.

It is a million dollar question — if Pranab becomes the President, who will become the next finance minister? Two possibilities look more likely – that the prime minister may keep the finance portfolio with himself, or two, he will later hand over the ministry to C Rangarajan or Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan are also making efforts to be included in the Cabinet. The DMK, on the other hand, is asking for the Railways portfolio.

The current IPL series may have come to an end despite all hullabaloos, the politics doesn’t seem to be leave cricket alone. Kirti Azad, a BJP Parliamentarian and passionate IPL defender, and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley’s fight with the DDCA is an old one. That is why, just before his hunger strike, Kirti Azad met with IP Commissioner Rajiv Shukla and demanded that Jaitley be removed from his position in the governing body of the IPL and BCCI’s vice president’s post. But Shukla said that since Jaitley was a chosen position holder, it would not be possible to remove him from the post. Yashwant Sinha has an old grouse against Jaitley. Because Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur is associated with the politics of cricket, Shanta Kumar is also miffed with the IPL. But Lalu Prasad is the most angry with the whole lot – his son Tejaswi was included in the Delhi Daredevils’ team of 33 by GMR, but he didn’t get a chance to play in any of the IPL matches and GMR now wants to replace Tejaswi with someone else. No wonder Lalu is grumbling.

The Congress is getting ready to retaliate on the coal matter, because the prime minister’s so-called honest image has taken a beating on the same. So the Congress’ main agenda is to look for scapegoats, and two names have come forward – T K A Nair and Santosh Bagdodia. Apart from this, the Congress may also prepare a dossier about when privatisation on mining was first started; which means the entire matter may be twisted on its head and may be connected with the NDA rule when Uma Bharti and Shahnawaz Hussain were coal ministers. The Congress managers say that the first coal field was given to a corporate house during the NDA rule. Apart from this, the Congress is also preparing a list of those who stand to gain from the coal scam. Two names have emerged – Jajoria of Monet Ispat and Anil Ambani, who has a concern such as Jharkhand Power Corporation. It is worth remembering that Anil has named all his power production units in such a way that they give an impression of being government companies.

Advani is extremely angry with a few of his own party leaders, and with good reason. The Sangh has made it clear that any party leader more than 75 years of age will not contest elections but will transform himself as a mentor for the party. Which means Advani, Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh, Murli Manohar Singh may not be able to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections in 2014. This logic of Advani also didn’t work on the Sangh that Kerala’s CPI-M former Chief Minister Achhyuthanand is above 80. Sangh has clarified it is in favour of bringing young blood into the party. Looks like it is time to sing Advani era’s swan song.