The prime minister seems to be happy with the work done by two ministers – Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal. Thus, these two might find them in a higher place after the Cabinet reshuffle. Sources say Gadkari might get an additional portfolio of railways or aviation ministry. Piyush Goyal may be made a Cabinet minister. If the railway ministry is taken away from Suresh Prabhu, it might help relieve the pain felt by Shiv Sena, which wants to see Prabhu without any portfolio. At least two ministers from Bihar may be dropped and two to three people from UP may be made ministers. Crucial ministries such as finance and petroleum may also see changes.

Through the medium of revealing more from confidential files of Subhash Chandra Bose, the Modi government has initiated work to ensure the Congress is on a shaky wicket in the Bengal elections. Sources say that as more and more is revealed from Bose’s files, the Gandhi-Nehru family will have to feel more and more heat. Reliable sources with the government have revealed that the Modi government has strategically divided all the files and reports related to Netaji. The files have been divided into top secret, secret, classified, and unclassified categories. Apart from this, 29 files are with the foreign ministry. Nearly 10 lakh papers are with the home ministry, which include reports by secret agencies and the police. Top secret files are with the PMO, from which two big secrets might be revealed – How did Netaji suddenly vanish? Two, how did he die? The secret file is mostly related to the report by the Justice Mukherjee Committee, which is limited to two files. The classified files include Indian government’s correspondence related to Netaji with countries such as Russia, Japan, Indonesia, Burma and the UK. Unclassified files are those that have not been scoured through properly as yet. These might be related to the relations between Nehru and Bose. The PMO has information about all this. As and when these secrets are let out, the Trinamool and the BJP will be ready to take political advantage of it.

A meeting between Sonia Gandhi and PM Narendra Modi reeks of politics that is no less than 125 years old. A reliable source with 10, Janpath, claims that the prime minister had invited Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh to his room for an amiable meeting. But the seating arrangement at the prime minister’s room had been arranged like it was a summit meeting. There were just two chairs, which were facing a sofa. Citing protocol, Manmohan Singh was made to sit on the chair and Sonia had no option but to sit on the sofa. The prime minister wanted to establish a dialogue with the Congress on a smooth functioning of the Congress and getting its approval for the GST Bill and any needed amendments. For this, he should have directly addressed Sonia Gandhi and not Manmohan Singh, since it falls upon Sonia and her alone to define the party’s role in the Parliament. With this meeting, a new debate has erupted within the Congress – did Modi knowingly or unknowingly want to put Sonia down?

Nowadays, the BJP and prime minister’s entire attention is on the coming Assembly elections in UP. The way the prime minister sung paeans in praise of B R Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution at the Constitution Sabha, it became clear to Mayavati, too, that our prime minister, who is adept at political jugglery, has his finger on UP’s dalit pulse as well. Based on lessons learnt from the mistakes made in Bihar, a new election strategy is being devised for UP. The names of Swatantra Dev Singh and Ram Shankar Kithiria are in the fray for the party’s state president’s post. Party’s veteran leader and Central Minister Kalraj Mishra might be made the head of the election committee so that there is a balance between catering to both backward and non-backward voters. Party workers also have a strong demand that the party should go into elections with a specific face for the chief ministerial candidate. If sources are to be believed, there is a big demand from the party to present Varun Gandhi as the chief ministerial candidate, but Modi and Shah have their own problems with the name – problems they will have to resolve on their own. Rajnath Singh is recommending Dharmpal’s name for the state’s party president’s post, while Ramlal is nominating Kithiria’s name. On the other hand, most Sangh leaders are in favour of Swatantra Dev Singh, and want to see him as the next state party president.

Nowadays, Trinamool’s rebel member of Parliament Mukul Roy is seen in the central hall surrounded by his old Trinamool colleagues, talking to them and sharing laughs. The truth is, it isn’t the old Mukul anymore, and neither is his friendship with the party’s MPs as warm as it used to be. But when a new friendship is gathering attention, it makes sense to try and get to the bottom of it. Sources close to didi say that Mukul and Mamata have probably buried the hatchet, and they are ready to let the bygones be bygones. Didi too has apparently directed her party MPs that they should not only stay in touch with Mukul but also keep a keen eye on him so that he doesn’t get too friendly with the BJP. Sources reveal that some senior leaders from the BJP had made some big promises to Mukul in the past, and was even told that in the coming elections in West Bengal, the party will prepare him just like it had prepared Nitish for the Bihar elections. And if the coalition works and wins, Mukul will be the next chief minister of Bengal. But the lotus has wilted somewhat after the big loss in Bihar. The BJP leaders have drooped shoulders and don’t remember their promises of yore either. Due to this, Mukul felt it was advisable to change his loyalty itself.

The echoes of political whispers are being drowned at the home of master strategist of Narendra Modi government, Arun Jaitley, by the music from the shehnai. This December 7, his daughter Sonali Jaitley is set to marry Jayesh Bakshi, who is a partner in Jaitley’s law firm. The family has made all sorts of preparations to make the occasion special and memorable. Also, there are different invitee lists for the five different programmes for the occasion. For instance, a bhajan evening has been organized for December 5, and apart from party’s prominent members, invitations have also been sent to members of the Sangh as well as its sister outfits. Invites for the mehendi ceremony, which has been organized at Mukul Rohatgi’s (who is known as one of Jaitley’s special friends) residence at Motilal Nehru Marg, have been sent to Jaitley’s relatives and special family friends. The sangeet has been organized at Jaitley’s Krishna Menon Marg; the father and the daughter have also had an argument about the ceremony. Jaitley wanted to invite a well-known personality from the world of classical Indian music, while Sonali’s preference was Mika Singh. Close relations from both the bride and groom’s side of the family have been invited for the sangeet. For the wedding on December 7, Jaitley has invited only a handful of guests. The reception is on December 9. To be held at his official resident at Krishna Menon Marg, Jaitley has sent the invitations to prominent people. It is expected that the prime minister himself might attend two-three programmes. Jaitley had personally gone to invite Sonia Gandhi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. At the same time, he spoke to Priyanka and Robert Vadra on the phone and invited them to the wedding ceremony. It is believed that a mix of prominent personalities from the fields of politics, business, media and sports might be seen at Sonali Jaitley’s wedding. That is because Jaitley is regarded as the friend of friends. And this is an opportunity for him to prove it.

The UP Assembly elections may be only in 2017, but political movements for the same are already afoot. The Congress is also warming up for the elections. A few days ago, a big group of Congress members was seen at the New Delhi-located Himachal Bhavan. If sources are to be believed, party’s prominent leaders from the state, such as Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Sanjay Kapoor and Abrar Rizvi are back to chanting the “Priyanka lao, Congress bachao” (Bring Priyanka, save the Congress) slogan. A known Dalit leader of UP Congress P L Punia got a tad miffed at this and commented in a straightforward way, “Rahul ji is overlooking the national affairs for now, he is also looking at UP and we have complete confidence in his leadership. Thus, the party’s command should remain with him for the 2017 Assemble elections.” At the same time, others such as Rita Bahuguna were of the opinion that Rahul Gandhi should remain the focus of national politics but should be thrown into the UP political cauldron only if and when it becomes essential. Thus, if Priyanka is handed over the reins of the upcoming elections in UP, the party might get a new surge of life. Now both sides will present their case to Sonia; after all, the final decision rests with the mother.

A prominent Sangh leader Krishna Gopal is facing opposition from within the organization. Sources say that a few days ago, several regional pracharaks of the Sangh met with Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat and Bhaiyaji Joshi and complained that Krishna Gopal’s voice is drowning in the clamour raised by Shah-Modi-Jaitley. Despite being backed by the Sangh, the Sanghathan minister Krishna Gopal is unable to carve that niche for himself that Sangh’s heavyweight Madandas Devi had made for himself during Vajpayi’s regime. Not just Devi, in the days to come, Suresh Soni, who held the same post, forced the BJP leadership to bow down on several occasions; instances of these can be seen during the times when Nitin Gadkari and Rajnath Singh were party presidents. The swayamsevaks have now given Krishna Gopal a new name – Laddoo Gopal, whose entire focus nowadays is only on the human resources and development ministry. Sources say that most of the applications being sent by Krishna Gopal nominating names for appointment of vice-chancellors in various universities are being approved by the HRD Minister Smriti Irani. Obviously, Krishna Gopal considers it a big win for himself and the Sangh. It is believed that when the top leadership of the Sangh tried to explain things to Krishna Gopal, he showed his displeasure at it and said that despite him taking over as the Sangathan minister, Suresh Soni is still extremely capable of giving the BJP a clear idea of Sangh’s expectations and is pretty active in doing it, too. Sources say that to show his displeasure, Krishna Gopal had even offered to resign, but it became a catch 22 situation for the Sangh. They were neither in a position to accept it, nor refuse it.

The very wise Amar Singh may well have been seen with his old boss SP Chief Mulayam Singh for the latter’s birthday celebrations, but he didn’t get any special treatment or acknowledgement from the party’s other leaders such as Akhilesh and Ramgopal, for instance. Amar Singh is also extremely anxious about his plot in Noida’s sector 44. It is worth mentioning here that this plot is a part of the same series because of which Neera Yadav had to go to jail. Sources say Amar Singh told netaji of his worry, as a result of which an SLP from the UP government has been sent to court, requesting the stay be kept on all plots except this one owned by Amar Singh. It is to be remembered that the Supreme Court has put a stay order on all these controversial land plots. At the same time, Amar Singh is fairly active in settling accounts with old friend Ashok Chaturvedi, because Chaturvedi has recently left Naresh Aggarwal and chosen to be on Rajiv Shukla’s side.

Sahara Shri Subrata Rai’s worries just don’t seem to end. The list of facilities he got at Tihar has been clipped after a court order; previously, he could use the internet connection 24/7, had a laptop, along with 34 guards appointed just for his security. The new order means he has been sent to his old cell. The ED is tightening its noose around his two sons and wife under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Sources say that the raid that happened a few days ago means his assets such as private jets, hotels and apartment in London are facing the heat. Not just that, sources also claim that a few days ago, Subrata’s younger brother Jaivrat’s son Jagrato has been arrested by the police in Dubai. It never rains, it pours, like they say.