Sonia doesn’t want to go with Jayalalithaa and so it is vital for the Congress to stay in favour with Dramuk. The government also knew that the only way to shift the focus from the CWG scam was to play up the 2G scam to the hilt and have it investigated and form a JPC, too. The Central government is thus on the same wavelength as Karunanidhi, who knew about the Kalaigiri raid in advance, and thus set things right in advance. The raid started at about half past twelve and went on until 5:15 in the morning. It was obviously meant to not disturb TV editors.

Pranab da is also a tough man to please. He can’t get it out of his head that when he was the financie minister, Manmohan Singh was number give in his ministry. Meeting dada directly wasn’t so easy for him, keeping the protocol in mind. So how can he now take instructions from the same man? Pranab da recently held a big program of the ministry on how banks can become more accessible to rural India. Sonia was present for the event but dada didn’t think of asking the PM to attend the do. Looks like the gauntlet has been thrown.

Those who have tongues are also saying that not only is the PM’s chief secretary a favourite with the PM’s wife but also seeks her advice on governance, which is reflecting on the day-to-day activities. The biggest instance of this is being cited with regards to a coal mafia case in Kolkata. For the past two years, the mafia has been eyeing the sole coal mine owned by Coal India. But Rajic Sharma, IAS, Rajasthan Cadre and joint secretary of Coal Ministry was against the mine getting into private hands. Sharma’s logic was that if this sole coalfield (read, gold mine) was also given to a private firm, what will happen of the 60,000 workers working in the unit? If sources are to be believed, since Gursharan Kaur’s sister’s husband is somehow linked to coal, Sharma’s advice and explanations were given the go-by and the mine given over to the coal mafia. For this to happen, the proposal has to be passed through Coal India, but since Sharma is a member of the Coal India board, the matter wasn’t placed in front of the board altogether.

Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa may blame it all on black magic, but the mining mafia in the state is as active as ever. Reddy brothers have been prohibited from mining by the court itself, while Baldota and Company are making money with both hands. They aren’t too scared of law in any case, since a big BJP leader’s advocate daughter is a retainer in the company.

Pranab Mukherjee is facing an uncomfortable moment in the Congress and the government at large. Trashing the Opposition’s demand for a JPC in the 2G scam, Mukherjee has said, “I have been a Parliamentarian for a long time. They will boycott the Parliament for a few days, after which everything will be back to normal.” Congress’ alliance partner DMK had urged the government to agree to a JPC so that the CBI could be kept away. Sharad Pawar and Mamata Banerjee also thought JPC to be the lesser evil. But Mr Mukherjee didn’t budge and now that things have become worse, it looks like he will acquiesce. But everything will be clearer only after February 8.

The entire reshuffle exercise was rather strange at the Congress queen didn’t even deem it necessary to talk to the PM about it. If sources are to be believed, the reshuffle was the result of deep talks between Ahmed Patel and Sonia Gandhi. Beni Prasad Verma was made a minister only because he was ready to revolt and Mulayam was sending him one feeler after another. But looks like the SP hasn’t given up on Beni Prasad yet, because he is still unhappy after getting the ministerial post, saying since he was a Cabinet minister, why has he been made a state minister now?

With this Cabint reshuffle, our prime minister has proved that he doesn’t have better people than the ones present. Niira Radia repercussions could be seen in the reshuffle. Anil Ambani’s happiness also proved to be momentary at the petroleum ministry being taken away from Deora, who was then handed corporate affairs. The PM wanted to give Kamal Nath something less significant, but due to 10, Janpath’s pressures, just the opposite happened and he got an important portfolio like urban development. Maybe that is why his visitor list is the same as it was when he had the surface transport ministry. It was almost sure Krishna will go and be made the Andhra Pradesh governor. But his warning to the prime minister at the last moment proved to be helpful.

Praful Patel probably didn’t see it coming that the aviation ministry will be taken from him. He was hoping for a promotion and being elevated to a Cabinet minister’s post. After all, he has a good relationship with 10, Janpath and other Congress leaders. After the oath taking ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, when the newly-sworn ministers were getting photographed with the President and the prime minister, he gave the protocol a go and got up to request Sonia Gandhi to be a part of the photo session, an offer she refused with a smile. It is being said that after Rahul’s comments on Pawar, an agitated NCP spokesperson D P Tripathi had directly targeted Sonia and Rahul and commented that the Congress should learn how to run a coalition government from Italy. It is believed that after the comment, the Congress has been hell bent on teaching the NCP a lesson. Patel probably became the victim to Tripathi’s outspokenness.

Such complacency was never seen in Congress raj before. It had been said that those people who have been working relentlessly will be brought into the fold, several will be removed from the Cabinet and so on. Take Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, for instance. He has been on the post for nearly two-and-a-half months, he is still the head for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana. If only these states were close by, he would have fixed his program there. Now if the high command helps find a worker in J&K from Maharashtra.

Unlike his previous contemporaries, BJP Party President Nitin Gadkari is a man in hurry. The way state after state reports are coming, it seems that Congress-UPA graph is falling where corruption and inflation is concerned. Naturally, it’s an advantage for the BJP. Gadkari is now asking all the post holders and secretaries for their report cards, according to which the leaders will be graded. The BJP yuva Morcha is totally enthused by it and has decided it will start a march from Kolkata to Srinagar. The march will start from Kolkata on January 12 and finish at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on January 26, the country’s Republic Day. But the state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is not happy with the idea and has warned the party that if they want to see peace in the state, they should cancel the march. But the BJP is not ready to retreat. As it is, the Yuva Morcha’s President Anurag Thakur is a thakur, which means that will never go back on their words, no matter how high the price.