When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerbeg had come to Delhi to meet Modi, he had talked about a lot of big issues. Encouraged by this, before embarking for the US, Modi called up Zuckerberg, and requested him to organize a dinner for him when he was in the US, and call some of the big personalities from the cyber world. Sources say that Modi especially named Sundar Pichai. But Zuckerberg wanted Modi to come to Facebook office, give a small lecture, and have a direct dialogue with some of the Indians in the top positions in the company. For some reason, Modi did not like this idea by Zuckerberg, and he preferred to meet the leaders from Fortune 500 companies.

If Sangh’s new spokesperson Ram Madhav is giving a desi tinge to Modi’s proposed London rally, there is a special reason for it. Team Modi wants to get a crowd of 50,000 for Modi’s rally in Wembley Stadium, which will be of non-resident Indians who stay in London along with their families. Team Modi’s own estimate and survey indicates that 20,000-25,000 people will attend the rally on their own. For the rest of the numbers, Team Modi is working wooing non-resident Indians living and working in and near London. They are looking for people whose annual income is less than 25,000 pounds; that is, people who are daily-wage workers. Identifying these NRIs, a desi-style invitation is being sent to them, with the assurance that they will be reimbursed for the loss of income they face by not going for work and attending the rally.

Central Home Minister Rajnath Singh was attending a meeting with CRPF commandos, and the context was Bihar’s Assembly elections. The meeting was also to decide how many CRPF troops were to be freed for the Bihar elections, be they in Jammu and Kashmir or Chattisgarh. Addressing the commandos, Singh rightly told them to ask their jawans to carry out their duties without any fear, so that the elections can be carried out in a fearless manner – but that they didn’t need to be over-excited about it either. It is worth mentioning here that on the polling day, it is these Central Reserve Police Force jawans who have control over the polling booths rather than Bihar Police, who may have a significant role to play in setting voting trends.

The prime minister’s take towards his ministers about governance have become a tad stricter. In the backdrop of Bihar elections and the noise it is creating, the PM had a straight-talk session with his Cabinet’s colleagues and asked them to name the government’s achievements in the past 15-16 months. Nearly all ministers had come prepared and had done their homework properly. When it came to J P Naddha, he shared the top three accomplishments of his ministry. One, his ministry is now equipped with e-governance. Two, post-natal deaths of new mothers has come down, and three, the supply of medicines in the market has improved. But counting these accomplishments wasn’t enough for the prime minister. Possibly, he wanted to hear things such as: dengue is proliferating in Delhi, and the hospitals in the Capital are cheating the common man, and so on. When Naddha couldn’t gauge the unsaid things Modi said, sources reveal the prime minister ultimately did ask him, “Talk about what your ministry has done when it comes to good work for patients.” Obviously, Mr minister has nothing to say to that; when he came out, colleague ministers wanted to know what had transpired. Mr minister said his number had not come as yet, and that the prime minister will send for him again.

The PMO has given a clear warning to Central Cabinet ministers that they better divide assignments with state ministers of their departments, send files over to them, and let them work. Leaving aside one of two Cabinet ministers, most state ministers in Modi government are merely red-beacon ministers. One state minister is asking for help from his aggressive Cabinet minister who happens to be a woman. Two state ministers wrote to the prime minister to tell of their woes and gave details of how they are being treated badly. Sources say that the PM has written to the PM that the room assigned to them in their ministry does not even have a toilet. They have to cross the corridors and use the same one that is used by other office workers. One state minister wrote about how he called for the joint secretary about a file and got a dressing down for it from his senior minister. When the PM was going through the report card of his ministers and this particular ministry’s number came, Modi suddenly announced that the report card for that ministry will be presented by the state minister. Sources say that in the presence of the Central minister, the state minister folded his hands to the PM, and said, “Sir, we can’t even appoint a peon, how can we enumerate the accomplishments of the ministry?” And thus, the PM passed his message to the senior minister.

Nowadays, senior and junior home ministers seem to have all the time on their hands. Haribhai, who is from Gujarat, seems to have special blessings of the PM. As a result, he does have some work to do. Northeast, Ladakh and Tibet are PMO’s priorities. Thus, the PMO is dealing with these places on its own through the National Security Advisor. As a result, Rajnathji has time to spare and he keeps visiting UP, especially Lucknow, very often. He also seems to be taking interest in the organisation’s work. Central Minister of Home Affairs of India Kiran Rijuju may be from the northeast, but his take on the matters in the region are hardly given any importance. As a result, Rijuju can be seen hitting the gym at New Delhi’s Ashok Hotel even at 1 pm in the afternoon. At the very least, a healthy lifestyle is benefitting from matters concerning political health.

For the past few days, the matter of call drops is ruling over all Cabinet meetings. The prime minister himself has expressed his displeasure to Ravi Shankar Prasad about the matter. Central Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has also been vocal in the Cabinet about the issue of call drops. He says it feels like living in the 1990s, when only the landline was reliable. Jaitley said that the mobile network doesn’t even work in the North and South Blocks. After that it was decided that permissions should be granted to have mobile towers installed in all government buildings. Two ministers, apart from Arun Jaitley, were given the responsibility of telling the media that mobile towers have no connection with cancer, but people don’t believe this. Sources say that after this the PMO gave the suggestion about what if Maneka Gandhi said the same thing on TV so that people trust the belief that mobile towers don’t cause cancer. But who will tell Maneka Gandhi this and who will ask her to do it?

A product of Arun Jaitley’s school, Nirmala Seetharaman is not only enjoying clout within the government but in the party as well. With several of her colleagues, Sushma Swaraj for instance, Seetharaman does not even have a cordial relationship. That is, they don’t even exchange everyday pleasantries. At the same time, Amit Shah is said to be an ardent fan of her impeccable and fluent English. Thus, Seetharaman can be seen with Shah on many occasions. Sources say that nowadays, Shah is asking for crucial feedback from Seetharaman and after proper investigation and double-checking, is passing the information on to Modi.

The government has taken an important decision under Modi: every minister should go abroad at least thrice in a year. This is to ensure that he gets a worldview and broadens his horizons. Clearly, Modi is speaking from experience here. Minister of State for Skills Development Rajiv Prasad Rudy has taken this tip seriously. Just 10 days ago he was looking at skill development possibilities in Tanzania along with his family. Prior to that, he had gone to Mauritius and Maldives with his family to further hone his skill development abilities.

A big question that is taunting the BJP and its claims of being ethical and clean is: what were the compulsions that Mumbai’s Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria had to be promoted in a hurry and transferred as the DG of Home Guards? To top it, this happened when he was just about to unravel the truth behind the Sheena murder case. Did Maharashtra’s young Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis get orders from “high above” that he had to sign Maria’s file at 2.30 am in the morning before leaving for Japan? Highly-placed sources have given the news that Maria was questioning Peter Mukherjea from all angles and one of the matters that emerged was in connection with money laundering, that is, Hawala. Sources say that one of the top industrialists of India came under a shadow of suspicion in the money laundering case. Apart from him, the names of two other industrialists associated with the Bombay Club are also being mentioned. The role of at least two senior Cabinet ministers in this cannot be ignored either. A daughter of one of these Cabinet ministers was seen lobbying in support of Peter, too. After all the noise about Modi raj, the reality that emerged was nothing but a trickle of blood.