Lobbying has already started for the country’s next president, even though current President Pranab Mukherjee is due to retire only in 2017. Vice President Hamid Ansari is also set to retire in 2017. Sources say that BJP’s veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani met with Sangh’s top leader Mohan Bhagwat about a fortnight ago, and presented his case before him. Advani wanted that Bhagwat himself present Advani’s nomination as the next president to Narendra Modi and influence him for the same. Sources say that Advani stressed upon the point that if the NDA supports him as the presidential candidate, several non-NDA parties might also come in front to support him. It is believed that Advani especially mentioned the names of Nitish Kumar from JD (U), Lalu yadav of RJD, BJD’s Naveen Patnaik, Jayalalithaa from AIDMK regarding this. But sources say Bhagwat advised Advani to keep quiet about it at the moment, and said that he will first try to see what Modi really thinks about it, and will then talk about Advani’s name. After Bhagwat’s advice, Advani has kept mum about it.

Why Advani, Maratha satrap Sharad Pawar is also weaving dreams of becoming the president. Sources say on his 75th birthday, Pawar shared his heart’s desire with Modi. It is believed that PM Modi has told Pawar that although not for the president’s post, the NDA may consider him for the vice president’s nomination. In conversation, Modi ji shared his feeling by saying, “Pawar sahib is a farmer, and who knows the rotation of seasons better than a farmer?” In simple words, Modi indicated that Pawar was adept at understanding and sensing the political climates. On the other hand, Prakash Singh Badal, too, has spoken about his nomination for the vice president’s post with the PM through Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. But no firm assurance has been given from Modi’s side.

Nitish Kumar is facing a problem of scantiness. In a few months, five of his JD(U) party’s members – Sharad Yadav, K C Tyagi, Pavan Verma, R C P Singh and Ghulam Rasool Balvayi – are slated to retire from the Rajya Sabha. On its own, the JD (U) will barely manage to send two Parliamentarians to the Upper House, and for this too it will need the Congress’ support. Sources say in his heart, Nitish does not want to send Sharad to the Upper House, but considering political compulsions, it will not be possible for him to ignore a senior party leader such as Sharad Yadav. Thus, playing a clever hand, he has promised Ajit Singh too to take him to the Rajya Sabha from the JD (U) quota. In return, Ajit Singh has promised to Nitish he will work shoulder to shoulder with Nitish in the coming Assembly elections in UP in 2017.

What you are about to read will shake you to the core and you will rue at the thought of an impotent democracy. Whatever happened in Chennai – death of more than 400 people and the loss of 25,000 crore – could have been averted in time. Six months before the unfortunate incident, a tender had been passed to clean and fix Chennai’s clogged and dilapidated sewer lines. In alliance with a foreign company, a big Indian corporation had got the tender, too. Sources reveal that a close confidante minister of the Tamil queen had some differences with the company regarding “percentage” Allegedly the minister wanted a fixed share of the total cost after tax. But the company was ready to give a part of the money before taxation. Just six months ago, 70 trucks had been sent by the company to clean and fix the sewer line, and 100 more trucks were ready. But the matter got stuck because of the commission clause; Chennai could not bear the off-season heavy rains and the tragedy occurred.

The orders may have been out to oust organizations such as Greenpeace from the country, but because of America’s pressure tactics, this desire of the Modi government hasn’t come to fruition entirely. But even on their way out, organizations such as Greenpeace have caused a big setback to the Indian economy. If you remember, this is the same Greenpeace that had kicked up a storm about Indian tea. It had been successful in playing up its claim that Indian tea has a harmful amount of pesticides in it. Right after this, several of our big tea plantations started shutting down one after another. Several non-profit organizations are also under suspicion for agitating the workers in the tea plantations. It is worth noting that most of these NGOs get foreign aid. These NGOs raised a seemingly-valid point that the owners were not giving the plantation workers even minimum wages. The tensions between the workers and the plantation owners increased, and these plantations started to close one by one. Today the situation is a grim one – plantation workers are on the verge of starvation and there has been a spate of suicides. In such a scenario, we see the entry of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who strongly believes that if a tea seller can become India’s prime minister, what is to stop her from jumping into the chai conundrum? So after meeting with the plantations owners in Kolkata, Banerjee came up with the wise idea of nationalizing the tea plantations. That means Mamata didi is now ready to sell tea, too.

Bihar election results have given a shot in the arm to the Sangh Parivar. Sangh leaders, who would generally keep mum when it came to the Modi-Shah duo, have a new body language now. Their way of communication and putting their point across has changed, too. Be it the matter of getting their veteran swayamsevak Dilip Ghosh as the party president in West Bengal, or planning a new strategy to launch Sanjay Joshi, who has been on a backburner for a while, in a new political avatar. Sources close to the Sangh say that Sanjay Joshi who has been nursing the “exile” blues for a while will make a comeback with a bang and he might be made in-charge of the BJP in UP. Sources also reveal that three top Sangh leaders, that is, Mohan Bhagwat, Bhaiyaji Joshi and Dattatreya Hosboley have personally established contact with Modi about Sanjay Joshi, and have been able to convince him that it was time to bury the hatchet. Not only on the national level, Joshi may be equally effective in Gujarat as well. Sources claim that Hosboley has acted like a bridge between the Sangh and Modi. They say that the minute the information about this leaked through closed doors, the entire Ahmadabad was full of “Sanjay Joshi lao BJP bachao” (Bring back Sanjay Joshi, save the BJP) posters.

The arrogant claims of giving a clean government seem to be vanishing into thin air. The recent matter is from Haryana, where the BJP is the ruling party and where a comparatively-clean and honest Manohar Lal is at the chief minister’s post. This is about 45 lakh tonnes of rice that was supposed to be sent to Jharkhand government, for which the rate for buying paddy from Haryana farmers was set at Rs 1,250 per quintal. But the middlemen came up with their tricks here, too. The poor farmers barely got Rs 1,200 per quintal; they were told the paddy they had got had too much moisture in it. Sources say the rate set with Jharkhand government is Rs 2,000 per quintal. But before the harvest could reach the state, the middlemen set about working on it, and sources say the traders got it at Rs 3,000 per quintal. All that the BJP-led Jharkhand state could do was gawk at all this, and the government’s working style also became known to all.

Sahara chief Subroto Roy might be going through a rough patch at present, but he is nothing less than a good Samaritan for his fellow prisoners. He has come as one who extends legal help to all those prisoners who aren’t financially capable of doing it themselves. Sources say Saharashri is not only giving free legal advice to many, he has also promised to finance the expenses of court proceedings for many. But he isn’t able to give any legal assistance to his nephew, who is caught in a legal quagmire in Dubai. At the same time, his younger son Simanto was seen with a big UP businessman at a high-profile wedding in Delhi recently. Not just Simanto, the wedding reception was also attended by the likes of famous and infamous people such as Ashok Chaturvedi and Ketan Desai. What an irony that while the father is having to sustain himself on prison food, his son is enjoying wedding spreads.

Arvind Kejriwal, who rose to power on mohalla politics, seems to be cued in to the expectations of the people of Delhi. Sources say that as soon as Kejriwal got information that a popular party member had taken Rs 2 crore from a Mumbai-based business house in the name of getting a tender from Delhi Jal Board, he came forward and cancelled the tender himself. At present, an official with revenue services, Suresh Kumar Jain, is the apple of his eye. He is not only the chief minister’s OSD, but also the secretary of the power department, and has big responsibility as director and secretary, vigilance. The other special thing is that this official has also worked with the chief minister’s wife Sunita Kejriwal, and they are good friends, too. At present, Kejriwal’s focus is on mohalla clinics. Built on 65-sq metres, these mohalla clinics will treat people free of cost and will give medicines for free, too. The first such clinic is already operational in Delhi’s Piragarhi area. Kejriwal’s plan is to make 1,000 such clinics in Delhi. In short, the preparations are on to ensure the voters can’t see beyond AAP.

The prime minister, who is keen to give his government a proactive image, can’t seem to accept the complacent and lackadaisical attitude of some of his ministers. If sources are to be believed, Modi will bring about a big change in his Cabinet after January 14 (when the kharmas period, considered to be inauspicious in the Hindu calendar, will be over). Many ministers may be bid adieu, new ministers may be introduced, several may see their portfolios being changed, while others may get promotions. This big reshuffle of ministers will be based on a performance report, which is being monitored by the PMO itself. Every now and then, as the party president, Amit Shah too gives his feedback about ministers and their work. It is believed that Modi gives a lot of importance to Shah’s opinion. Apart from Shah, Modi also keeps an eye on his ministers through the likes of Ajit Doval, Nripendra Mishra and P K Mishra. Based on the work they have done, the PMO grades each minister and his ministry as well. And it is these scores that will decide the promotion or demotion of ministers.