Mamta Banerjee has been sending rachis to journalists in Bengal for sometime now. But this time for Raksha Bandhan, she sent a rakhi to prominent journalists in Delhi as well so that journalist brothers guard and protect her. Now the entire responsibility of speaking the truth about didi, Trinamul and the Railways has fallen on the shoulders of women journalists.

The history of Anil Agarwal from Patna in Bihar is barely 35 years old. His company Vedanta did well only because it bought over old mines and companies in the red at dirt-cheap prices and then converted them into profit-making units. It is worth remembering that during the NDA regime, Agarwal had acquired Balco for a mere Rs 500 crore. He has his own mines in Tasmania, too. His company Vedanta is registered in London, where he is the second-richest Indian. He may stammer a little while speaking English but he has a lot of influence over the British government. Maybe that is the reason Vedanta acquired Cairn Oil Company so easily. Cairn has oil fields in Rajasthan and Krishna Godavari Basin. If Vedanta does enter the oil fields business, it will prove to be a bigger player than Ambani’s Reliance. This is the only ranking where Ambani has an edge over Anil Agarwal.

Septuagenarian Congress Leader Arjun Singh’s family has been in the party for a long time. Although his son Ajay Singh aka Rahul Singh is already in the Congress, when his daughter did not get a party ticket from Satna, he contested the elections as an independent candidate. Then, like a true Congressman, Arjun Singh campaigned for the Congress candidate in Satna and against his own daughter. But we were talking about Ajay Singh, who has also been a state minister in the east. His son Arunday Singh has decided to make a mark in movies rather than the Congress. The responsibility of giving him a break has been taken by Sudhir Mishra. He was the second lead in “Sikandar”. It was directed by Piyush Jha but the movie went unnoticed. In the recently released movie “Aisha”, Arunday Singh plays a small role of Sonam Kapoor’s friend. But the break he wants hasn’t come yet and he is still to star in a movie as a hero.

After the IPL finished, its banished Commissioner Lalit Modi took a flight to London on the very fourth day. His lawyer have made him so scared about the return to India like there’s a “red corner notice” of sorts against him and he will be seized from an airport the moment he steps on Indian soil. So Modi is going in all corners of the world, wandering around Europe. Alongside, he’s trying to find a solution for the allegations of bribing the South African Cricket Board with Rs 3 crore and is consulting with lawyers who specialize in FERA cases. But he gets the shivers everytime coming back home in mentioned. But it is heard that since he read that Vasundhara-led has defeated the Congress party in the municipal elections, he thinking of it all over again. So will Modi be able to step on Indian soil in the near future?

GST meeting was happening and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj were lost in talking to each other and discussing issues. The meeting was attended by all other leaders as well. Someone quipped how this was the first time that a ruling party leader and one from the Opposition party had such a good equation with each other. Sushma retorted, “Yes, maybe that’s because Pranabda and I are of the same height!” Pranabda, not to be outdone, said, “It’s true. Advani ji and I have not only a big difference in height but also in our ideologies.”

Chinks might appear in the bond between Lalu and Paswan because the latter is in constant touch with the Congress through Ahmed Patel. The issue is that if a Lalu-Paswan union forms the government, who will be the chief minister. Evidently, Lalu will never leave the chief minister’s post. In such a scenario, what will happen to Paswan? He has thus sent feelers to the Congress that they can fight the Bihar elections together. He may not be able to form a government in Bihar with Congress, but the party can probably make him a Central minister with a substantial portfolio. Paswan’s heart is toying with the idea and that is why he was the most active in the dinner hosted by Rajiv Shukla and was jabbering away with Congress leaders and Lallan as well.

While trying to answer the cutting-edge queries of Community Party leader Vrina Karat, Games Minister K S Gill too was caught short of words at times. Addressing Vrinda, Gil quipped, “I am trying to do my best, but (in Punjabi), the frown on your forehead still doesn’t diminish.” Needless to say, this quip by Gill gave Vrinda a reason to smile.

Nitin Gadkari and Raj Thackrey are not only Marathi manoos but also close friends who are there for each other through thick and thin. However, only Raj knows what Gadkari’s take is on north Indians who have come to Mumbai – does Gadkari, too, like Raj believe that these people are acting as carriers for malaria in Mumbai. Reminds one of Nana’s famous dialogue, “One mosquito makes a man clap like a eunuch.” Are you that beforehand? Maybe that’s why Gadkari considers Raj as his younger brother and when Gadkari has the Maharashtra BJP under him, we wanted to form a coalition with Raj Thackrey. Neither can stand it if they don’t get to speak to each other over the phone for even a day. But do we really need to ask what Gadkari has got from the BJP until now?

To make sure that Amar Singh’s political gear now goes into back gear, Mulayam Singh and Ram Gopal Yadav are bent on having Amar Singh take a back seat in the Parliament – literally. Prof Ram Gopal and Mohan Singh have written to the Raj Sabha speaker that Amar Singh be removed from the committee of health. Mulayam’s “brother” has been alleged to have links with a Turkish pharmaceutical company and that he does some liaisons for the company in India. He is currently in Turkey courtesy the same company. Now who knows what really is going on?

In the strange games of politics, CBI is noting but a pawn on the board. Needless to mention that it is currently controlled by the ruling government. Now that Gujarat’s ex-home minister Amit Shah has been arrested, it could be Narendra Modi and Maya Kodnani next. CBI is eyeing Gulab Chand Kataria and Om Mathur, too. With the Ajmer bomb blast as the background, several top Sangh Parivar leaders may also be roped in. Indresh Kumar’s name is already common knowledge. Apart from him, CBI also wants to get hold of other leaders such as Ashok Barry, Devendra Gupta and Sandeep Dange. Appropriate witnesses have been collected for the same. Vishva Hindu Parishad’s Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadia are under the scanner. All in all, the saffron bridge might have to face tough times.