The Company Law Board corruption matter is gaining strength. The penetrative eyes of CBI are not trained on Board’s working president R. Vasudevan, company secretary Manoj Kumar Banthia and lawyer Ankur Chawla alone, but the brother-in-law of a senior leader of BJP, a Parsi law company, the son of a retired judge and the son of a senior woman judge are also under the scanner. It remains to be seen what happens next because there are more big fish that CBI is eyeing. If reliable sources are to be believed then it was two years ago that CBI had started weaving a net around these people, they were being watched and their phones were also being tapped.

What to remember and what to forget, Mr Advani? Now on the path of Atal, getting forgetful, remorseful and complaining. Advani’s core tem believes that the iron man has fallen prey to memory loss or amnesia. Now Advani has started forgetting his phone and meetings too. Be it worker’s convention, public meeting or speech in Parliament, they all sound the same and in this lies the convenience of Advani. What difference does it make if he delivers the speech meant for workers’ meeting in Parliament. If someone goes to meet Advani at his residence, then Advani makes it a point to hand that person an inane item like a letter of a retired IAS officer or a `letter to the editor’. And if perchance you go twice in a day, then this exercise would be repeated. No matter what is written in his praise, he still reads it with tears in his eyes. Old write-ups or letters that have been written in his praise are circulated in the house as if they were the “prasad’’ that is distributed after Satyanarayan Puja. And if by mistake some journalist goes to his house, then handing him some old write-up, Advani advises with humility that he or she should also write in a similar manner. Advani has really forgotten the difference between self-appraisal and self-praise. This definitely is a matter of great concern for BJP.

Sangh has been in constant dialogue with Advani and so the Sangh leadership wanted to know that if he had objection to Gadkari’s name then he should suggest some other. At this Advani immediately gave out Arun Jaitley’s name as his choice for the post of president. Sangh then said – `Suggest some other name, we have already turned down this name earlier.’ Advani then said – `Narendra Modi.’ At this Sangh said – `Okay then, you ask him and let us know, we do not have any objection to his name.’ And in between the Sangh informed Modi over phone and said – `For the new president, there is consensus on your name.’ Modi immediately said that till 2013 he wants to remain in Gujarat. So for Advani there was no option but to agree to Gadkari’s name.

Congress knows that in Karnataka the field is still wide open for it and that the Reddy brothers who had sounded the bugle of rebellion against saffron Chief Minister Yeddyurappa were Congressmen at heart. So Ahmed Patel had called Jagan and handed him the reins of Operation Karnataka. Patel’s game plan is clear that Jagan should somehow split the Karnataka BJP through the middle and it is also not hidden from anyone that Jagan’s father Rajshekhar Reddy had played the most crucial role the establishment of the business empire of the Reddy brothers. He not only allowed the mining business of the Reddy brothers to thrive in the no man’s land between Andhra and Karnataka, but when need arose he also gave on lease hundreds of acres of land in Andhra for mining. And for this, he also got approved loans worth nearly 1,000 crore approved for the Reddy brothers from the banks. Jagan, who had paid merely Rs 2 lakh in tax last year, has this year joined the list of the top tax payers. In the matter of advance tax too Jagan has left everyone behind. So in a mere one year, where did the wealth worth Rs 78,000 crore come from. Perhaps this is something which Madam Gandhi is finding hard to chew. Or else what could have been the reason behind her putting political obstacles in the way of a 36-year-old becoming the Chief Minister?

Twenty five years after her demise, Indira Gandhi has managed to unite the two ladies who started their political career during her time — Ambika Soni and Sheila Dixit. The Union information and broadcasting minister and the Delhi CM, who have no love lost between them, are working in tandem for the commemoration of the 25th death anniversary of Indiraji. Perhaps the other Mrs Gandhi is keeping a close watch on their progress on the matter.

Another formula is at work in Maharashtra . Sharad Pawar is said to be trying hard to convince his political ally to accept his daughter, Supriya Sule, as the bearer of his mantle. If the plan gets off the ground, one may see Sule assuming the chief ministership of the state, and the NCP quietly agreeing to a merger with the Congress. The buzz is that the nitty-gritty is being worked out. But then the spoilers are also at work. Pawar’s legacy is being claimed by his nephew, Ajit Pawar, who, unlike Sule, is an old hand at politics. So expect more Pawar-play.

After attack being made on Shatabdi where Rahul Gandhi was travelling to prove the point of austerity, many controversies have been raised so far. First, opposition terms it as mere tokenism and not a serious approach towards austerity. Second, it raised the question of austerity v/s security of VIPs like Rahul Gandhi. Third, stone throwing at Shatabdi on that particular route is a normal matter. And due to Rahul Gandhi, the news came into the limelight. But the latest one of the series is which many are guessing, it is the handiwork of investigating agency IB. politicians may do a lot of things for the sake of politics but it is the headache of investigating and security agency to maintain order in everything. New gossip in power centre is that it has been done by security personnel so that Rahul Gandhi never travels in train in future which may invite a serious terrorist attack.

Realising the sensitivity of the issue, Advani gave the message to the Sangh leadership that it should first take the initiative to make his favourite Arun Jaitley the next party president. It is but natural that if Jaitley were to control the reins of the party as president then his post of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha that was would fall vacant and the most powerful contender for it would be Advani’s `Hanuman’ Venkaiah Naidu. But the Sangh’s real worry is that when would Advani demit his post?

Venkaiah Naidu has come out with a new formula of `post for post’ for Advani. So if Advani is removed from the post of Leader of Opposition then he could be made the chairman of the BJP Parliamentary Board. Therefore as long as Advani would remain relevant in the party, Venkaiah would also be in demand.

Sangh has decided that this time BJP will get a low profile president so that its control and supervision over the saffron party remains intact. In reality, the Sangh wants to directly hold the reins of BJP in its hands now and wants to influence the day to day working of BJP as well. So, BJP’s next president could be anyone, and that means anyone, even Bal Apte.