Dissident Parliamentarians from Trinamool are learning to chant a new political mantra nowadays. In a way, they want to follow Nitish’s footsteps and want to write a new story for themselves by befriending the BJP. The way Nitish Kumar used the BJP’s organizational and resource power to make a place for himself in Bihar politics, Mukul Roy wants to do the exact same thing in Bengal. Sources say that recognition of a new party launched by Roy is a distinct possibility. Sources also say that Mukul’s own speculation is that in the 2016 Assembly elections in West Bengal, his newly-formed party may get 35-40 seats; the BJP looks strong at 15-17 seats, the Congress might get 30-35 seats, too, and the CPM, 50. If this maths works out, the 295-candidate West Bengal Assembly might see Mamata’s Trinamool falling short of getting the required number for forming a government. Roy might emerge as a big player in this scenario. If this happens, Mamata might either reach out to the Congress or Roy’s party to form a government in the state. As of now, however, it’s all in the foreseeable future.

Owing to the election surveys of Bihar, Team Shah is riding on the seventh heaven and BJP is all set to contest a big fight on 160 seats. Shah is worried about the performance of his alliance partners. Till now Shah has conducted 3 surveys to ascertain the performance of his alliance partners. In all the three surveys the core parties of NDA are set to get 24, 27 and 30 seats, whereas the alliance partners are going to get 83 seats. So now Shah has requested Modi to campaign for the alliance partners as well. In the days to come, Modi might campaign for Ramchandra Paswan’s Vidhan Sabha seat, for Manjhi’s seat as well as for the candidates of Upendra Kushwaha.

Termed as the Chanakya of BJP, Amit Shah is treading his steps with great care in the Bihar elections. It is said that he is also unhappy with the untimely and unwarranted statements of his party workers. Amit Shah was in the Capital on 1st Oct, to apprise the PM of the present position of Bihar elections. Sources say that he had complained about the attitude of three BJP leaders viz Giriraj Singh, R K Singh and Shatrughan Sinha. Amit Shah is still not able to digest as to why Giriraj Singh should give a statement that the next CM of Bihar would be from the backward classes and defeating Lallu at Sarvarno has lessened. Shah took Giriraj to task by asking him that till when will he continue to defame the image of BJP. The first phase of Bihar elections are going to take part on the 12th of Oct. Team Shah is in high spirits, but is also concerned and worried about the 13 expelled workers who have become a pain in the neck. Modi was successful in addressing a rally on 2nd Oct in favour of the BJP led alliance, but Shah is well versed with the challenges that he has to face in maintaining the charm and charisma that Modi has created.

There have been differences between Amma and the BJP and it seems to be the only valid reason for cancelling the two day Extended Monsoon Session of the Parliament which was called to discuss the CST Bill. The Tamil Queen and Supremo has already voiced her opinion that she is not in favour of the GST Bill. During her meeting with the PM in Chennai, all the focus of her discussion was on the impending legal matters and court cases she was involved in. S Guru Murthy and Ch Ramaswamy from BJP were in constant touch with Jaya Lalitha. It is also said that Nitin Gadkari & Ravi Shankar Prasad are having good terms with the Tamil Supremo, but sources reveal that when Gadkari and Prasad had been to Chennai on their respective tours, Jaya Lalitha did not meet them after giving them time and cancelled the meeting at the last moment, which shows that she is somehow not happy with the policies of the NDA Govt.

It was once decided that Rajeev Shukla will emerge as a fore runner in the race for the BCCI President since he was having the support of the Jetly group who were having 16 votes. But at the nick of the moment the dreams of Rajeev Shukla were shattered by Amit Shah by stating that how can he support a Congress candidate for this post. Taking stock of the situation Anurag Thakur proposed the name of Shashank Manohar. Shashank Manohar has the support of the Sharad Pawar group who have only 3 votes. Please be noted that Anurag is having good terms with Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule. It is also said that Supriya had proposed the name of Advocate Shashank at Nagpur, who had been the BCCI President for a single term. During this period there were differences between Shah and Shashank , because Manohar had refused to give a match venue to Ahmedabad. On the contrary S Gurumurthy, Subramaniam Swamy and G K Subhash Chandra are lobbying for Srinivasan on how to save his ICC future. In all these circumstances Arun Jaitly has been the loser , who after getting a golden opportunity has not been able to place his dear friend Rajeev Shukla as the BCCI President.

Uttara Khand’s CM, Harish Rawat accompanied by his two MLAs visited Delhi to meet the party Vice President Rahul Gandhi. In the initial 10-15 minutes Rahul talked about the beauty and charm of Kullu-Manali. He also said that it has been the favourite hill station of his grand mother as well as he and Priyanka also like it. Rahul laid stress on the fact that it should be developed as an International Tourist destination, if tourists can go to Goa then they can also come to Manali. Rawat was over whelmed and told him that he will carry this message to the CM of HP, Raja Veerbhadra Singh and that he will ask the CM to speak to Rahul as well. Sources say that when Rahul realised his mistake he immediately cancelled the meeting.

Punjab’s undaunted Cong leader Capt Amrinder Singh was amongst those fortunate people who came to meet Rahul Gandhi a few days back. He came to Delhi on the request of Rahul Gandhi. The meeting started on a personal note, later on it took a serious turn and Rahul categorically stated that Bajwa is his favourite choice. Rahul further said that he cannot hand over the reins of the party in the hands of Capt , for the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha elections. A dejected Capt returned and started a campaign of asking the Congress delegates as to in whose favour they are vouching their support and allegiance, with Capt or with Congress. Sources that a Senior Congress leader has met Capt and asked him to take a middle way out to resolve this issue, but Capt refused to do so. There is a mad rush of Congress politicians who are wanting to meet Capt Amrinder Singh. Sources also say that recently Manish Tewari and Sunil Jhakhad have also met him. It has also been revealed by a reliable source of the BJP that they may cast Capt Amrinder and declare him as their new alliance partner since they have lost their love and affection for the Akalis.

Prime Minister Modi’s Israel trip has been postponed for the third time. The Israeli government, too, is surprised at this, since the country has been considering India its natural ally ever since the NDA came into power. Against this backdrop, several important Defence and security deals also took place between India and Israel. Sources say this time Modi postponed the proposed Israel trip after a sensitive report by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. According to sources, the report claimed if Modi went to Israel this time, he would have to face Obama’s ire. That is because things are tense between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Obama. Things have gone wrong ever since Obama was contesting for the presidential elections for the first time and Netanyahu had openly spoken out against him. Israel is also pretty upset with Obama’s current policy regarding Palestine. Apart from this, about 14 ambassadors of West Asian countries in New Delhi had met with Modi and had expressed that if India is going to openly woo Israel, the Arab nations will also have to reconsider his friendly status with India. Sources say that the ambassadors of Qatar and Saudi Arabia went to the extent of telling Modi that their countries will then have to consider whether they will invest in India or not. With so much pressure from all sides, Modi’s proposed trip to Israel was put on the backburner.

Obama didn’t show as much excitement about Modi’s US trip this time, but rolled out the red carpet for China’s President Xi Jinping. The American President didn’t just take two days off for Xi Jinping, but also organized a state banquet in his honour. On the other hand, nearly two months before Modi’s US trip, the PMO was trying hard to see if a one-to-one candid meeting could be organized between Obama and Modi. When there were no confirmed assurances from USA’s foreign ministry, the Indian embassy in Washington was told to jump to action. In a hurry, India gave the green signal to the big Boeing deal. It was only then that the White House seemed to be speaking a tad favourably.

Leaving the Bihar Assembly elections mid-way, when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi boarded a flight for London on Tuesday, it sent ripples of shock through the political stage. That is because he was taking a flight to Colorado from London. The media cell of Congress is speaking in whispers and saying that Rahul might take part in the popular CBS channel co-host Charlie Rose’s Ideas and Innovation programme, which is to be held in Colorado. There is speculation that several world leaders may also take part in the programme. But pursed lips are also saying that Colorado is known for its stunning scenery, and its rocky mountains have attracted mountaineers for a long time. Rahul’s love for skiing and trekking is an old one.