10, Janpath feels that not only is the government relying too much on the bureaucrats when it comes to getting policies implemented, but the PM himself is not the same in his behaviour. Now he gets miffed at the slightest advice and interference by 10, Janpath and starts threatening of a resignation at the drop of a hat. Maybe that is one of the reasons Sonia has also cut down her public appearance routine.

After attracting the lower castes in Bihar, Nitish Kumar is now courting the upper castes. He now wants to form a five-member commission for the upliftment of the upper castes in Bihar. This commission will be for three years and work for the economic and social upliftment of those who are economically challenged. It is worth nothing that this will be the first commission of its kind that will be formed for the upper castes.

Keeping the forthcoming Tamilnadu elections in mind, political parties have pulled up their socks. DMK, PMK and the Congress have come to an understanding and Jayalalitha has only the Left to align with. BJP doesn’t have too much presence in the state – it has only about 2.5 per cent of votes in its favour. But it might do some work to get a foothold in south Chennai and Nagarcol.

The moment Raja got arrested, all this friends seemed to have turned the other side. Maran, Azhaigiri and Stalin never really like Raja, but his favourite Kanimozhi has also chosen to look the other side. Only Karunanidhi remains, who is showing some amount of courtesy to Raja, but that too because of the impending elections in the state. If he suddenly leaves Raja in the cold, the dalit votes in the state will leave him, too.

What happened in Guwahati’s Dyansty Hotel a few days ago is enough to tarnish the BJP’s image, character and philosophy. A fixer of sorts, believed to be close to two prominent BJO leaders was staying there with his entourage. It is said that his aim was to bribe local parties in Assam and have them support the BJP. The gentleman has already done something similar in Jharkhand and Karnataka. He hosted a party for a BJP leader in the hotel and needless to say, alcohol flowed free and having women around was missed. So what next? Several sex workers were brought to the hotel and the fixer went overboard with one of the girls, so much so that she threatened to go to the media. When the Congress found out about this, they got the girl agree to a press conference. The BJP saw the situation going out of control and the party managers got into action and stuffed the girl’s mouth with money. Otherwise there could have been trouble for Kalia and would’ve died at the hands of Gabbar!

All lawyers in Congress are eyeing the law minister’s post. The media was abuzz with how Moily will be let go of the post and the new law minister could well be Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi or Salman Khurshid. Then just a day before the reshuffle, there was news that Ashvini Kumar will be the next law minister. But all came to naught and Moily retained his post.

The Sangh is worried about a pracharak from its committee. He may be hogging the limelight currently, but the Sangh is really worried about this terrorist pracharak’s Muslim connection. The bachelor has been intimately involved with two women in Jammu and someone (probably one of the women themselves) has made a CD of their activities. The Sangh leadership is scared what will happen if the CD is ever leaked to the media. What will then happen to the Sangh’s proclamation of being a pure and ethical body?

A Muslim Representative Committee recently met Sonia Gandhi and requested her to have a Khanti Muslim chair the minority ministry (they don’t like Salman Khurshid’s liberal politics). This is how they expressed themselves, “Madam, we had asked for a Musalman, but you took away the ‘Mu’ and gave us Salman.”

Sahara Parivar’s famous Bharat Parv traveled from Lucknow to Delhi and was to be held in the capital from January 27-30. But Sebi had its eye on the non-banking group and the entire event looked iffy. Now the organizers have decided to hold it in London and will be held there in all its pomp and show in May. Top Bollywood actors such as Shah Rukh Khan will take part in it. Attempts are on to have prominent leaders of political parties take part in the same. This is a double whammy of sorts for the Sahara family since they have just bought Grosvenor House Hotel in central London in the Park Lane area of Hyde Park. It is in May that the hotel will be inaugurated. Since the hotel is close to Shah Rukh’s bungalow as well, they can both take care of each other.

It seems there will definitely be a reshuffle of Manmohan’s Cabinet ministry. If reliable sources are to be believed, S M Krishna, C P Joshi, Mukul Vasnik and B K Handique may be out and if 10 Janpath has its way, Anand Sharma will be the foreign minister, while Manmohan Singh wants Kapil Sibal for the post. The prime minister has a long list of charges against Kamal Nath and political corridors are rife with banners and talks against him and he may see a change in portfolio. Jyotiraditya Scindia may have a promotion and become the state foreign minister. Salman Khurshid may also be given an important portfolio. Manmohan Singh also wants Montek Singh to not only become a minister in the Cabinet but also a part of the PMO at the state level. Ghulam Nabi Azad may also be given important responsibilities and he may be made incharge of Andhra Pradesh, but he doesn’t want to leave the minister’s post. S M Krishna may become the state’s new governor but wait and watch. It won’t take too long.