In the recent bye-elections, the writ of the Congress may not have run, particular in Bihar where it was not able to show any miracle, and Lalu-Ram Vilas may have regained some of the lost confidence, but Rahul Gandhi deserves to be praised because due to his efforts and wisdom the Congress graph has been rising constantly in U.P. In U.P., the MLAs of BJP and Samajwadi Party are in constant touch with the Congress. Some days ago, nearly 11 MLAs of Samajwadi Party and 6 of BJP went to meeting Congress leader Digvijay Singh and they expressed their desire to join the Congress. Is Amar bhaiyya listening?

The fight among the second rung of leaders in BJP is showing no signs of abating. Only recently, a senior leader of BJP made a very awkward remark about a leader of his own clan before Congress leader Digvijay Singh. The BJP leader said about his party colleague – `You do not know about the street dog when he may bite ..’ Wow, what context and selection of words and what a culture rich party!

By taking the opinion of the party persons and the Sangh on having a new president in U.P., Rajnath wants to install a low profile person of his choice as president so that the dummy my keep fulfilling his wishes. Surya Pratap Sahi is a Bhoomihar of Padhrauna who in the past has served as a Minister in U.P. Government. And in losing elections, he has a strange record. He has faced defeats in the last two Assembly elections. But Rajnath is still looking for BJP victory formula in this defeated warrior.

Now questions are being raised on the relevance of the BJP’s introspection meeting itself. Several leaders have now raised the question that if the party deliberated on the causes of the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Shimla then why were people responsible for the distribution of tickets not called for the meeting – that is why was the Election Committee not invited? The Core Group of the party was called, the Parliamentary Board members were also invited and so were all the party general secretaries, but then why were the Election Committee members left out?

There is a coalition Government of Akalis and BJP in Punjab which is headed by Prakash Singh Badal. In the recent past, the dear son of the elder Badal, Sukhbir Badal, has been anointed the Deputy CM. Ideally the post of Deputy CM should have gone into the quota of BJP but on coming to Delhi the younger Badal brainwashed BJP’s national president Rajnath Singh in such a way that even Balbir Punj who talks straight was left speechless. But if Rajnath so willed, then who could have stalled the move.

A mere 23 senior leaders of the party were present during BJP’s introspection meeting in Shimla. But what was Pratibha Advani doing there? After Jaswant’s expulsion from the party, during the lunch Pratibha went to every senior leader and expressed her regret at the developments saying Jaswant has been victimised. But barring Advani, who in his speech made a serious mention of Jaswant, none of the leaders paid heed to Pratibha’s talk.

The Sangh’s worries over Advani are increasing by the day. Before the introspection meeting, the Sangh had with great humility advised Advani that he should pave the way for the youth to come forward in the party and that he should also allow the young leadership to thrive. Or, the Sangh had made clear its view that it wanted Advani to move out, vacate the post of Leader of Opposition and of the party leader. But when Advani did not budge, the Sangh had to go on the back foot and issue a statement that `we do not interfere in BJP’. This when members of the Sangh have been advising Advani for a long time that he should like Sonia Gandhi only remain the chairman of the Parlimentary Board. Earlier Atal too had followed this tradition and he had not become Leader of Opposition. But Advani remains a tough nut to crack and insists that if Atal’s health had permitted then he too would have become Leader of Opposition.

When Arun Jaitley was going to speak on the fact finding report in a press conference, party president Rajnath Singh advised him to adopt an evasive tactic. But Jaitley who is considered a master in management ended up saying in great enthusiasm that there was no such report, this when the Advani camp had already leaked this report in the in media and it was already being shown on several television channels. Now it was a matter of Jaitley’s reliability and also face saving and so the party kept denying till the last moment the existence of any such report.

The son of the Chief Minister of a State adjoining Delhi is about to enter into a wedlock for the second time and that too in a very simple ceremony. The bride is the younger sister of a lady Congress MP. The Chief Minister has made it clear that he would be taking home a daughter and not a daughter-in-law who would also have to play the new role of a son.

When Yashwant Sinha, Digvijay Singh and Ranjan Bhattacharya met in the 360 degree restaurant of a five star hotel of Delhi, Ranjan apprised both the leaders about the feelings of ailing Atal and how Jaswant’s expulsion from the party has deeply hurt Atal who described this as the biggest disappointment from the party. Everybody knows how sick Atal is these days and how he even finds it difficult to speak. And to express his feelings, he only has the support of his foster son-in-law. But do the views also ever become foster?