Nitin Gadkari is indeed worried about the health of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. No wonder he convened a party meeting in a hospital in Noida. The hospital belongs to Dr Mahesh Sharma, who is said to be close to Rajnath Singh. Sharma had contested elections on a party ticket from Gautam Buddha Nagar but lost to an industrialist Naagar from the BSP. When the spin doctors of the party started to talk about the party’s condition in the state, there was no stopping them. Dr Murli Manohar Joshi spoke for an hour-and-a-half, State Party President Surya Prakash Sahi spoke for an hour and twenty minutes. Gadkari’s patience wore thin and he told the party members to stop talking and go ahead and do something.

Nationwide prayers and poojas are being offered in temples for the well-being and health of former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Bajpayee. In Delhi alone, 14 different districts are holding different kinds of poojas and prayers. The New Delhi BJP Samiti has organized a five-day Bhajan sandhya, some places are holding a bhandara, poor people are being handed out clothes and blankets, while seven places are holding special poojas. The question is that with Advani and Gadkari around, how come the BJP people are being to grateful to the party’s Bhishma Pitamah?

After an unprecedented win in Bihar, Nitish Kumar is not paying any importance to the party’s prominent politician and NDA convener Sharad Yadav. So much so that any programs that Bihar Vidhan Sabha programs that are organized don’t have Yadav’s name on them. Even during the election campaigning, he didn’t get the party helicopter but was rented by himself. Will be go the same way as George Fernandes and will have to work hard for getting the party ticket?

Already weeping from onion trouble, the UPA is constantly having to face challenges from its coalition parties. They are giving Sharad Pavar a hard time because of the onion prices saying that if he knew that there will be a paucity of onion in the coming days, why did he not curtail the exports when there was time. Rahul Gandhi gave a new twist to the tale saying the prime minister will take care of the whole thing. In the past when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister and Pranab Mukherjee was the finance minister, the government went through a similar phase and the Opposition party had presented the FM with a garland of onions as a mark of protest. About 12 years ago, when the Delhi command was under Sushma Swaraj, the BJP government fell under Sheila Dixit’s protest. This humble onion isn’t so humble and harmless after all.

Advani is the keenest to have Uma come back to the BJP party and he wants her to become the party in-charge for UP so that OBC and Lot votes can come in the party’s favour. But other senior party leaders such as Sushma-Jaitely, Venkaiah, and Shivraj are against her return. Even the party president is against Uma’s return. No wonder the matter is on the back burner.

The party president is trying his best to change to face and façade of the party. He is currently off to Israel with a batch of party members. But the most significant thing is that rarely did you see a party member in anything but a dhoti but this time, even Ramlal, who was never in anything but a dhoti could be seen flashing a suit. The president himself was seen in a three-piece suit. The BJP is looking for a new face indeed.

She is the wife of the country’s richest Indian. She recently bought crockery for her household – 25,000 pieces. Her favourite is a Japanese brand called Noritek, from a 105-year-old company, which makes gold and platinum plated porcelain. It has a showroom in Kemps Corner in Mumbai, which is a stone’s throw away from her current residence. But she bought the crockery from Sri Lanka, where she got upto 75-80 per cent discount. That means the Ambai family looks for discounts – from electricity to crockery. It may be surprising for some but not for those who know how Gujaratis don’t like to waste money. So what if the person in India’s richest India?

Money, indeed is God. The country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani has shifted into his 27-floor apartment Antilia, with his wife and three children. A big party was supposed to take place on November 28, and was to be attended by the who’s-who of leaders, business people and prominent personalities. Invitations had been sent, too, but the entire thing fizzled out with the 2G scam. Mukesh gave the excuse that two of his children who are studying abroad didn’t get a leave. On November 25, he organized a small party in his new palace and invited the most special people with an excuse that the party was organized in honour of NRI sculptor Anish Kapoor, who now lives in London. The cronies were in a battle of outdoing each other when praising the building. One even called it better than the Taj Mahal! The first month’s electricity bill of the building was Rs 70 lakh (6,37,240 units were consumed) but the government gave a discount of 48,354 units. The reason cited was the payment was made in time. If you want to survive in the country where the common man is suffering from lack of power and water, you need to be an Ambani. But there are people who are criticizing Ambani in strong words on the Internet saying that this land that belonged to the Wakf board was supposed to have an orphanage.

Who gave the ED the permission to tap Niira Radia’s tapes? Chidambaram was the finance minister then and Madhukar Gupta the home secretary. The CBDT has asked for permission to tap phone calls from the home ministry and the file has then also been sent to Chidambaram, which he had signed and approved. Initially the home secretary said off the record that there will be an investigation about how the tapes were leaked. When Ratan Tata approached the court, Veerappa Moily also went on record that the leaking tapes will be investigated. But Chidambaram put all such proceedings to rest saying there was no such need for an investigation. Anil Ambani’s friendship with PC is no secret and people are speculating that Anil is a big beneficiary from the tapes leaking. The Opposition is also blaming Anil for having a big role in the tapes leaking.

There’s no way anyone can hide Ratan Tata’s displeasure with the government. He is especially miffed with Home Minister P Chidambaram. Sharad Pawar is supporting Ratan Tata whole heartedly and met the prime minister and Pranab Mukherjee, urging the government to change its stance on the whole thing. Because it such a big businessman find favour with the BJP, it wouldn’t be in the best interest of the Congress party. How much they have listened to Pawar will be clear in the days to come.