India’s new textile minister has emerged in a new avatar. She’s come far from her days as the HRD minister, when madam would walk past Parliamentarians, while many a time their greetings to her went unanswered. She would also not take the pains to go to Central Hall or sit there, and knew only a handful of Parliamentarians by name. Nowadays, Irani is reaching out to them with humility, is interacting with them freely, and ever since she had taken charge of the new ministry, she has also started visiting the Central Hall and spending time with other Parliamentarians. She graciously asks for the introductions of those whose names she doesn’t know. Badal family’s daughter-in-law and Central minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal is facing a similar dilemma nowadays. She has probably sensed the winds of change blowing through Punjab. There was a time when the Parliament would witness her aggressive avatar. Now, she is the very picture of calm and patience. Even while answering questions in the Parliament, she tries hard to maintain a humble demeanor. Like they say, there is no better teacher than time – it makes you learn every pleasant and unpleasant lesson in life.

Punjab has opened wide the doors for new possibilities for AAP. Ever since different surveys have made it clear that AAP might form the government in the state, non-resident Indians have, once again, loosened their purses for Arvind Kejriwal. The party that was facing a severe fund crunch is, today, happy with its coffers. Several NRIs are ready to handle the expenses of entire constituencies on their own. Now the party’s IT cell members are telling them that along with one constituency in Punjab, they will also have to adopt one in Goa. Several NRIs have even agreed to this. There was a time when AAP supremo would say that his party can contest only one state election at a time because of funds crunch. Now it seems the party is a moneyed one.

You can sense the Congress reviving itself in UP. When Sonia did her road show in Modi’s constituency Varanasi, it was several kilometers long. A few days before this, when Rahul headed a meeting of Congress members at the Rama Bai Ambedkar venue, 50,000 people attended it despite the rains. The acumen of Prashant Kishore, the man who organized the event, was worth witnessing. An extended ramp of 65 feet was constructed, on which Rahul walked and met the party members, shook hands with them and conversed. Big screens had been placed at the venue, there were several cameras, as well as two on drones, and along with Rahul, Sheila Dikshit and Raj Babbar too accepted all queries that were thrown at them. Several pointed questions were asked of Rahul specifically, for instance: “You don’t come to UP, meeting you in Delhi is a wild goose chase, and why is Priyanka seen only during the elections? Where is she for the rest of time times? And why does she limit herself to Rae Bareilly and Amethi? The significant part: Rahul gave answers to even the most unpleasant questions with a smile. The media didn’t know what to make of it!

The BJP has still not severed its point of conversation with Siddhu. A few days ago, a top journalist of an English daily met Siddhu with a message from Arun Jaitley. Sources say Siddhu has been told that if he is willing to reconsider his decision, he might get to meet the PM. If sources are to be believed, Siddhu has also been told that in the news few days, the BJP is set to expand its Cabinet further to give place to its coalition party members such as Telugu Desham, Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, in the government. Thus, if Siddhu is ready to come back into the BJP fold, he might get a seat in the Cabinet along with the Akali Parliamentarians. It is said that Siddhu has graciously turned down the offer saying, “It is too late for all this now.”

Sangh’s BJP prabhari Dr Krishna Gopal has been forced to change his strategy. Reliable sources associated with the Sangh reveal that he has been told to consult with Bhaiyaji Joshi, Duttatreya Hosbole and Suresh Soni before taking any decision. Sources say in the recent past, several serious complains had reached the top leadership of Sangh and BJP regarding Dr Gopal’s attitude. The biggest complain being that he just can’t seem to stop coming away from the human resources and development ministry, and still behaves like a minister of education. It is said that Smriti Irani and Ramashankar Kathiria have had to pay the cost of their closeness to him. One of the most common complains about Dr Gopal is that he does not take calls from Sangh and BJP workers, and neither does he call them back. Sources say Dr Gopal pinned the blame on his secretary and has removed him from the post; he said his secretary wouldn’t tell him about these calls in the first place. One of the charges against him for a long time has been is that he is an advocate of Brahminvaad. Sources say Dr Gopal and BJP’s Ramlal are also not seeing eye-to-eye nowadays. Krishna Gopal feels Ramlal is sowing the seeds of dissent against him. But Ramlal is only doing Ram’s will.

The 2016 win has given Mamata Banerjee courage to nurse dreams of a 2019 victors as well. Didi has already started making preparations for the 2019 General Elections. A few days when he came to Delhi, she stayed back for two days only for this reason. She invited Trinamool Parliamentarians over for dinner, and shared with them what was in her heart. Didi feels if they start now, about 35-36 seats can be got from West Bengal in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Didi has also formed a core group of party Parliamentarians, and Sougat Roy has been made the convener. The committee’s agenda will be to revive the Third Front and have its leaders engage in direct dialogue with Didi. Every member of the core committee has been assigned the task of engaging with specific political parties; the core group will establish a conducive dialogue with them and get them in Didi’s favour. For instance, Sougat Roy has been given the charge of the Congress and NCO, while Derek O’Brian has been given the responsibility for Biju Janata Dal. Sources say Didi has made it clear in her meeting with the Parliamentarians that they should try to maintain cordial relations with the BJP as well. When Dinesh Trivedi was kept out of the core committee, Trivedi spoke to her with the request saying he has good relations with every party and yet he was kept out of the committee. Sensing how delicate the situation was, Didi retorted saying, “You are right. You have good relations with all parties, except ours.” And the dinner lights were dimmed.

The Parliamentarians were invited for dinner the next day again, and Didi placed an exciting idea to them. She told them that next week, party leaders of the Third Front will be invited for a grand welcome programme in Kolkata, courtesy the NGOs in the state. To welcome the regional satraps, Didi will be personally present for the event, and will also organize a dinner in their honour. The first name to be chosen was that of NCP’s Sharad Pawar, and for the second such event, Telugu Desam’s Chandrababu Naidu might be invited. Those such as Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal might be next. One of the Parliamentarians present at the dinner wanted to know who should be roped in from Tamil Nadu – DMK or the AIDMK. So Didi said they shouldn’t be seen too much with the AIDMK, because considering Tamil Nadu’s past tradition, DMK stands a better chance of winning the elections.

Industrialists are leaving Jharkhand in big numbers. Their common complaint is that neither are they getting land at reasonable prices, nor does the state have adequate water and power arrangements. The Naxals, too, are gaining strength, and getting competent labour in such a scenario isn’t easy either. Oblivious to all this, Jharkhand’s Chief Minister Raghuvar Yadav is excitedly organizing a big “Global Investor’s Meet” in February 16-17 in the state. For this, the chief minister is visiting different countries in his own chartered plane, and is networking to invite possible investors. This is when nearly all big industrialists and PSUs are already present in the state. Tata, Birla, Adani, Jindal, SAIL, NTPC, and Coal India are already present here. Despite that, caught in red-tapism, 22 mines are shut, which is a major worry for investors.

After the PM’s rally in Gorakhpur, Poorvanchal’s heavyweight leader Yogi Adityanath is a tad uneasy. The thing is, the PM was not very happy with the rally; sources say he expressed his displeasure to UP’s prabhari Om Mathur on the stage itself. The ground where the rally was held was a small one, and despite that, there wasn’t a big enough crowd. Sources say the responsibility of getting people for the rally was that of Yogi and Sunil Bansal. Bansal washed his hands off it and blamed it entirely on Yogi. UP’s prabhari Om Mathur tried to give clarifications saying, “It is raining and this is also a busy time for the farmers.” To this, Modi retorted saying, “I am a man of the soil; how can the farmers be busy if it is raining? And in any case, the rains had stopped by 9 am.” The next day after the rally, Yogi called some of his supporters for a meeting, and got a little emotional there. He said fate had given him everything; he was the be-all of the Gorakhnath Peeth, and there was not much that he wanted. It was after this that he said he was not in the race for becoming the CM. He also cancelled his Jhansi and Agra programs, and it is heard that the party is trying to placate him.

The PM himself is worried at the changing political winds in UP. The survey he got conducted in the state after the Dayashankar fiasco has added to the worry lines on the party high command’s forehead. You can see a clear demarcation of votes between the Dalits and upper castes after the Dayashankar matter. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had got only 35-37 per cent Dalit (non-Jatav) votes. Now the survey shows this has shrunk to 7-9 per cent. In the 2014 elections, the BJP had got 80-85 per cent votes from the upper castes, and now this has shrunk to 55 per cent. Sources say Modi has told his reliable Hanuman Shah clearly that he should not make the UP elections a matter of prestige either for the PM or for himself. He should refrain himself from organizing nearly-daily programmes in the state for himself, and also organize the PM’s meetings once in 45 days. Who can sense the echoes of times to come better than Modi.