It was shocking to see Shivraj V Patil resign from the Lokayukta’s post. He is known as an honest and upright judge. So did he resign in a huff or are better things in store for him?

….Jaane kis ne bhi ki ho sazish, suraj ke chehre se rista lahu aasma ke aanchal ko bhigota, jaane kab utar aya hai, kis kis ke kandhon par…” Ever since the Supreme Court has directed to increase the ring of suspicion on the mining mafia from the Reddy brothers, those people are also scared did business with them. Several big leaders of the BJP, a former chief minister and several other BJP Assembly members may come under suspicion. Because all the money that came and went has found a detailed mention in Reddy brothers’ diary.

Who will be the country’s next President? There was several names in the fray – Hamid Ansari from the Left, Meira Kumar, A K Anthony and Pranab Mukherjee from the Congress, while the BJP is against mulling over the name of APJ Abdul Kalam. Actually, Sonia Gandhi herself wanted Pranab da to handle a constitutional responsibility, and there have been past ideas of making him the deputy PM. But that had led Chidambaram threatening to resign and even the Prime Minister wasn’t in favour of the same. But looking at the present way Pranab da has been reacting, it won’t be so easy got the Congress to ignore him this time and even the PM seems to be relenting a little. So he has called for Pranab da from Washington to New York this Friday.

Is the UPA government’s changed body language regarding Mukesh Ambani due to Pranab Mukherjee. Everyone knows how close Pranb is to Mukesh, because of which there are several complications regarding the KG basin and several other incidents thereon. Now even the home ministry has decided that it will have the CBI investigate the KG Basin scam.

The face-off between Pranab da and Chidambaram had started when as the home minister, Chidambaram had got a dossier made on Pranab’s son on how he liaisons for a big corporate house. Miffed at the same, Pranab da asked the ED, which is under his ministry, to rake up all the dirt against Chidambaram’s son Kartik and about all the share scams. Chidambaram is actually eyeing the prime minister’s post and knows that the biggest hurdle in his way is Pranab. The culmination of getting this hurdle out of the way was the bugging incident, which is now public, as is Pranab’s letter.

New Wikileaks cables are becoming a cause for worry for the American Embassy based in India. They are suffering because of the lack of political information and are having to depend on second or third sources for any information. Whenever the American officials are asking for time from a big leader, the leaders are wary of meeting them and are giving the excuse of being extremely busy. If the leaders do happen to come across them as parties or other occasions, they merely politely greet the officials and move on. Clearly, the US is at a lack of political information.

After the interesting revelations about Maya Me Sa’ab through Wikileaks, Mayawati has made the announcement that she will be giving more and more responsibilities to Satish Mishra and Shashank Shekhar. But what happened was quite the opposite. In the CM office, on the fifth floor, right next to Mayawati’s room would sit advisor Satish Mishra. His room has now been vacated in a hurry. Mishra is now spending most of him in Delhi and often seen at his Aurangzeb Road house, where Navin Patnaik once lived.

While the BJP has found a political ally in Haryana in the form of Kuldip Bishnoi, its old Akali friends in Punjab are changing colour. Prakash Singh Badal is trying his best to have the Akali Dal’s alliance with BSP in the Vidhan Sabha elections. The Akalis have sensed the beating BJP will take in the elections and is seeking out more promising partners.

The PM’s favoured Chandigarh club may fall down to the Anna issue. Kapil Sibal, Pawan Bansal and Ashwini Kumar are said to be the prominent members of the PM’s Chandigarh Club. Former Sports Minister M S Gill belonged to the same quota but the PM was forced to oust him. Those in opposition of Ashwini Kumar even say that his friend and hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal played a big role in making him the minister.

Moving around like vagabonds, fresh out of the oven, this column Mirch masala that have been urging readers to think about new issues every week for the past 11 years will be going for a small hiatus for two weeks. Despite being pit of India I will be in your thoughts. Catch you in July! Till then, so long!