The 2G scam has proved to be a bone caught in the government’s throat. The struggle is on to save those close to the party and CBI is worried about facing the Supreme Court. That is why during a significant meeting between the prime minister and Ratan Tata, it was decided that Tata and his aides will not be questioned. Mukesh Ambani, too, has already met Sonia and presented his case. Both Mukesh and Ratan are also trying their best to save Radia. But her name has figured so prominently in the case that the government knows it may not be able to do the same. As of now, Pradeep Baijal’s arrest has also been postponed.

Differences between Sonia and Manmohan are coming to fore. The Opposition’s demand for a JPC on 2G may have become a matter of honour for the PM, but Sonia’s views were different seeing the reaction of the Opposition and coalition parties. The PM may now be ready to acquiesce, but he has brought a lot of embarrassment to the government. The UPA government’s tradition has been to informally show the Padma awards final list to Sonia for approval but this time, except for two or three names, the entire list was put together by the PMO. Sonia still can’t understand why Brijesh Mishra or Montek were not included in the list.

The CBI has clearly told the home minister that a case can be filed against the former Central minister Raja regarding the 2G scam. Azhaigiri and Karunanidhi have also indirectly indicated to the Congress that Raja should be sent behind bars. Only after that did Sonia meet with Karuna and talked about the forthcoming Tamilnadu Vidhan Sabha elections and made the party’s stand clear – if Karuna wants, the parties can contest elections as separate entities but should stay aligned together in the Lok Sabha elections, so that the DMK-Congress stays in the Centre. Karuna probably doesn’t have a choice but to tow the line.

The current situation of India reminds one of the following lines by Pablo Neruda: “Meeting in a populated forest/ the damp beats of darkness and drums/ I suddenly hear you call/ I touch the dense heavy branches from a distance/ And taste my blood in your kiss.”
Is Kashmir really ours? The pain BJP leaders went through in their quest to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk in Srinagar tells a different story. It is about Omar’s Kashmir, of Pakistan’s intentions for Kashmir, and Arun Jaitley is close to R P Singh and can show his back to us, that has the marks and wounds of boots, kicks and beaten by sticks. But what can Delhi’s BJP President Shibba Rai do, who has constraints because she is a woman. She can’t reveal the wounds Jammu and Kashmir police has given her. R P has hoisted the tricolour at Lal Chowk in 2008, too, and so was given the responsibility of forming a team of central leaders. Small teams of three-four party members started from all parts of the country towards Lal Chowk to hoist the national flag. There was police at every corner and the sunset was at about half-past four and the flag had to be hoisted before that. But at 7.30 in the mornings itself, one of the party members was arrested from Broadway Hotel so the police was alert and so was the team. Seeing things gone awry, the BJP leaders decided that even if they can’t reach Lal Chowk, they will hoist the flag in front of Yasin Malik’s house. But they couldn’t find his house! One of their teams had gotten very close to Lal Chowk when one of the TV reporters told the police about it. And then started the arrests, followed by torture. In five hours, Omar’s police crossed all limits of cruelty. When Jaitley, who was under house arrest, found out about it, he called up Omar and spoke to him in stern words, and only then did the BJP people manage to get away from the police. Like R P Singh put it, he felt like he was in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. The Kashmiris should first talk about independence of the soul.

After a gap of 19 years, famous singer Asha Bhosle took to the stage in Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi last Friday. The number of political leaders present for the show was lower than normal. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit came with her entourage but left half-way through the concert. Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda were present until the end. While Sunanda could be seen swaying in her seat through the program, Shashi was busy on Twitter through his Blackberry for the two-and-a-half hour programme. But so lost was Sunanda in enjoying Asha’s songs that the cameras caught several moments between her and Shashi.

Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Ganshi didn’t go anywhere for the New Year holidays because Sonia’s sisters were down for the occasion. Does anyone know which Congressman the Italian family is closest to? Anand Sharma, because when he was the state foreign minister, he would take care of the family’s travels and schedule to and from India (Visas and everything else). Due to this, he got close to madam, her mother and sisters – it is also the reason for his political graph going up. Anand Sharma is married to a Muslim woman from Gujarat and is a South African resident, who lives with their son in London currently. They too have a cordial relationship with the Gandhi family. No wonder he’s smug that he’ll get the foreign ministry.

The country’s biggest political family is also working on what to do with Kamal Nath. While Sonia Gandhi has emerged as the man’s guardian angel, Rahul and Priyanka want the transport minister out with immediate effect. Papers are still being distributed in the political corridors about the corruption and scams in the highways. It is believed that not only is law and protocol being kept aside where giving highway contracts to companies is concerned, the tenders are also being accommodated according to personal whims. In several BOT (build, operate and transfer) projects, companies are being allowed to charge any amount of toll. That means that a project for which the tax should be 20 years, it has now been increased to 33 years. Kamal Nath is no novice at corruption.

While her elder sister-in-law sits on the top of the political hierarchy in India and runs the government on her fingertips while sitting in Delhi and is unaware of those people who live on the other side of the spectrum, contrast it with Maneka Gandhi and her obsession with love for animals. When a few days ago she found out that the 33 dogs on whom pharma major Ranbaxy had run some tests were in a bad state, she called the top management of the company and told them that since they had done whatever harm they could to the dogs and since they were of no importance to the company, will they kindly send them to Maneka’s organization so that they could be taken care of? The company told her to get a government permit for the same. Maneka spoke to the environment ministry for the same and the government set up a committee for the same. The committee sent a performa to the company asking them for the details of these dogs – their breed, colour, size, pedigree and so on. All in all, the case was getting lost in bureaucracy and Maneka’s patience level was wearing thin. So she called a joint secretary of the ministry asking for a probably date for the release of these dogs. The secretary said that the order could not be given since he was not well and the company hadn’t sent the details of the dogs. At this, Maneka’s patience snapped and she asked, “Are the dogs getting married that you want the entire horoscope of theirs?” Taken aback by the reaction, the secretary sanctioned the dogs’ release orders and it is possible that by the time we ushered into the New Year, the dogs are already in Maneka’s animal hospital.

Don’t go by the way Pranab Mukherjee speaks Hindi. He is one of those in love with the language. For the Congress’ Burari conference he prepared a pay on the party’s golden past in Hindi language. The play was directed by Sukhendru Shekhar Rai, a Congress party member from West Bengal close to Pranab da. The entire play committee had come to Delhi from Kolkata, and was allowed to stay at a lavish hotel in Delhi. When the play was staged at the convention, Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh were sitting next to Pranab da. The one Pranab da missed was Rahul Gandhi since he had personally invited him for the play.

Amar Singh may have faced countless political beatings, but he’s not ready to give up yet. Once again he’s all set to take on Mulayam Singh and is planning to take a 400-km tour across Uttar Pradesh. The aim of the tour is to make the public more aware about him and reveal Mulayam’s secrets. He frankly tells those close to him about how he gave nearly Rs 1400 crore to Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi Party in the past 14 years. Despite a failing health, he is trying to find political friends, and openly says, “I am ready to be used; the option is open for Mayawati, Congress or the BJP. Use me as a weapon against Mulayam.”