Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj tried several times to call up Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to wish him on his birthday. But those in Rahul’s office were unable to connect Sushma’s call to him. Giving up Sushma Swaraj decided to send a letter to Rahul wishing him. Rahul has recently responded to Sushma’s birthday greeting and written back. It’s a lovely letter, is written in English and the gist is, “I am emotionally moved by the thoughtful feelings you have” etc. But the letter also states Sushma Swaraj as Lok Sabha leader. Now it is food for thought whether this mistake is one made by Rahul’s office or if there is a political pinch there.

Chief of IB Rajiv Mathur, and RAW’s K C Verma are due to retire this December. There is a lot of activity among the top circles for these two top posts of India’s intelligence agencies. Their successors will be decided in August-September itself. As a matter of policy the government has decided that the IB chief will be from the same agency, but the chief of RAW will be from outside the agency. Two officers are the senior-most in IB as of now. Nechal Sandhu belongs to the IPS batch of 1973, and he could be the next RAW chief. Ajit Lal of Himachal cadre and from the 1974 IPS batch could head IB. It is worth mentioning here that M K Narayanan, who was instrumental in electing IB and RAW chief is almost inconsequential in this now. When Narayanan was the chief of IB, Mathur and Verma were far junior to him. Since h became the governor, his interventions in all matters of IB and RAW have become rare.

Politicians and actors down south have a fetish for owning newspapers and TV channels and consider it a prestige issue. When Yedurappa had joined the saffron politics, he couldn’t stop talking about correctness and purity in politics, but seeing how things really are in the political world in the south, he too has undergone a metamorphosis – enough for him and his family to purchase a paper for Rs 200 crore. His aides are now on the lookout of a news channel. Why doesn’t someone show him the “Prabha” and its effects?

The political corridors are rife with news that the next Chief Election Commissioner is slated to be a woman and that Sudha Pillai stands a good chance to take that post. She’s is from a Punjabi Khanna family in Chandigarh and since her husband is Pillai, she is also getting the support of the strong Malyali lobby. Her image is that of an honest bureaucrat and is presently the member secretary of the Planning Commission. But there are two more names posing competition of sorts to Pillai – Sushma Nath and Nirupama Rao. The one thing that could go against Nirupama is that she’s addicted to being printed and being seen, something that doesn’t go down well with the government.

The Monsoon session of the Parliament starts soon but the clever Congressmen has brought the BJP down on its knees. And this happens just when the BJP thought it was armed with enough arsenal to make this Parliament session to make it a truly explosive one, what with issues such as Bhopal gas tragedy, food inflation, terrorism and the Nuclear Energy Bill. But now the Congress is also ready to drag Amit Shah and Hindu terrorism into the Parliament. It has also managed to break the clique of the Opposition parties who had joined hands on the food inflation issue. Mulayam Singh seems to be singing a different tune now. The Communist Party has a different take on Hindu terrorists. Now BJP fears it might lose the support of liberal Hindus.

Most Indian leaders make a beeline for London to escape the sweltering Indian summers. A few days ago, the two who have never got along, that is former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and BJP’s Arun Jaitley came face to face in the lobby at St James Court. After initial pleasantries were exchanged, Modi jumped to the moot point and asked Jaitley to help him in his legal problems. The first thing Jaitley did after returning to India was to get Jyotirajre Scindia in the BCCI Committee. Now who doesn’t know what the Vasundhara coterie thinks about the young Scindia? And who says Jaitley is not familiar with the ways of the political world?

Even today several questions are staring at us with gaping mouths, one of them being what Advani brought to the country in return of extraditing the Purulia suspects? Recently, when America got hold of 10 Russians, Russia had to let go of four important American prisoners. Who had sent arms top Purulia and for whom? That it was for Anandmargis is just an eyewash – they were seeking the attention of Maoists. Are these the same weapons that are creating havoc from Lalgarh to Dantewada. What is the Russian connection behind the suspects’ release? Who were the leaders who got financial assistance from Kim Davey and who always protected him? Where did that Russian aircraft that landed in Mumbai go? No one knows the answers. The arms were Russian and so was the craft, while Russia was at the brink of breaking away from USSR. So who was responsible for the culmination of this conspiracy? No one knows the objective behind the two big incidents during the BJP rule – the Kandahar hijack and the Purulia arms incident. The nation wants answers from the BJP, which claims to be the supreme patriot party and from its protagonist, L K Advani. No Gadkari can talk or wish these questions away. Advani will have to step forward and give us the answers.

Congress High Command Sonia Gandhi’s abode at 10, Janpath is fast becoming more and more inaccessible to several political leaders. There was a time when Sonia Gandhi herself walked up to Ram Vilas Paswan’s house. Today, Mr Paswan can’t get a hearing with Sonia, even when he’s placed a request for the same. Lalu, Mulayam, Shibu Soren and Jagan Reddy are in the same fix. A struggling Ajit Singh faces the same fix. Jagan can only manage an appointment with Verappa Moily. Regional leaders are taken care of by Moily and Pranbada and also take care of small political issues and political alliances. Among the UPA companions, Sonia’s doors are open for only Mamata Banerjee and the man with dark glasses – south India’s Karunanidhi. For those whom she doesn’t lend a ear, it’s literal. Sonia doesn’t even accept calls from people she doesn’t want to talk to.

Since after the Patna National Working Committee meeting, BJP’s former president and the farmer’s representative Rajnath Singh has found himself being isolated. It may be remembered that Singh was conspicuous by his absence in all the banners, hoarding and publicity material for the National Working Committee meeting in Patna. That all these publicity material flashed faces of Jaitley, Sushma and Advani and not his is something that has been eating at him for a while.

Vijay Mallya is again all set to add color to the Rajya Sabha, but this time he managed it with just 50 per cent . Poor Deve Gowda had gotten an assurance about the seat from Sajjan Jindal. But when Jindal had to rush to Florence in Italy for his daughter’s wedding, Mallya read the signs and made do with just 50 per cent .