Modi government is following the UPA’s footsteps when it comes to VIP security. The Central government has cut down on VIP security of 30 people considered to be close to the Congress; this includes former Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and eight members of his family. But Shinde’s security cover has been kept intact. The security cover of people such as former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former Central Minister V Narayan Samy, and others such as Subhodhkant Sahay and A Raja has been removed. On the other hand, 50 people such as Baba Ramdev, Om Mathur and Amit Shah have been allotted Z-plus security. Thus, while in the UPA rule, the number of people getting VIP security was 265, this number has increased to 293 in Modi’s rule.

The saffron party’s relations have become strained with its coalition members regarding the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar. The Narendra Modi team is of the opinion that the BJP should have 160-170 seats for its own party members, and the remaining 70-80 seats be distributed between its coalition members. If this formula is implemented, Ram Vilas Paswan will have to content himself with 25-30 seats, and Kushwaha, with merely 12-15. The seats that may fall in Manjhi’s lap might see BJP members contesting the elections in disguise; at least that is what the unsaid deal between Manjhi and BJP seems to be about. That is because Manjhi does not have as many contestants of his own for the elections. Team Modi has told its coalition members that the 2014 election results can’t be the benchmark for these parties’ performances. They have been indirectly told that if they want to look at other options, they can go their separate way, starting now.

It’s not just the BJP, the new coalition of Janata Parivar’s old associated also seems to be on the brink of a split. Mulayam Singh is going to blame Nitish for this; Netaji’s belief is that despite knowing all is not well between the Congress and the SP, Nitish got Kejriwal and Sonia on a stage together. SP Vice President Prof Ramgopal Yadav has never been in favour of any such coalition. He has, through his close aide Rajesh Dixit, tried to weaken such coalition attempts. As a result, while a Nitish-Lalu rally may be seen on August 30, Netaji is already showing his disinclination at joining it.

Another party leader along with Modi is working hard at trying to be on Sangh’s right side. At the same time, the party does not want to repeat the same mistake from Delhi during the Bihar Assembly elections. Sources say that inspired by AAP’s working style, the party has gathered a team of three lakh paid workers in the state, who will be rewarded for their efforts in the end. The BJP is giving finishing touches to its elections preparations with the help of such a big task force. On the other hand, to please the Sangh leadership, several Central ministers including Modi are due to attend the three-day Sangh meeting to be held in New Delhi’s Vasant Kunj from September 2-4. The BJP wants the Sangh to support it at least for the Bihar Assembly elections.

Once bitten, twice shy. Amit Shah does not want to repeat the Delhi elections mistake in Bihar Assembly elections. So this time, along with the party and Sangh cadre, he wants to keep god in confidence, too. So since August 15, he is spending all his time in temples, prayers and rituals. For instance, on August 19, Shah was in Nasik, where he took part in the Kumbh’s flag unfurling ceremony, and reached the special city of Tribhank for it. He also took part in the special prayers (pratima pratishtha) at the Gorakhnath Temple. After this, on August 25, he was seen at a special pooja organized at the Nataraj Temple in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. He was later seen at Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry. In the days to come, Shah plans to visit other prominent temples.

New friendships have a different set of rules. Several Central ministers have complained about the Sangh’s stance to Modi and Amit Shah. Now what is creating trouble for these ministers is that some noted Swayamsevaks of the Sangh arrive at the ministry offices everyday at 10 am. Mr Ministers’ subordinates are busy catering to them all day, they have their meals there, and keep a keen eye on all the people coming and going to meet the ministers. In a way, they make an entire dossier of people coming to meet the ministers. Apart from that, the ministers also get SMSes from two mobile numbers of ministers close to the Sangh, with the request of certain work to be completed for someone they name. After clearing the file, the ministers have to send messages to the phone numbers saying “Sir, you work has been done. Any other orders?” It’s certainly acche din for the Sangh.

Bihar’s heavyweight Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan is said to be pretty upset with the PMO nowadays. The biggest reason for his being upset is he still has not got a secretary he really wants. That is the reason why Paswan is conducting all meetings related to the department at his residence on 12, Janpath, instead of the office. The other issue has been created by Amit Shah, who has deflated Paswan’s ambition by saying he will have to content himself with 25-30 seats instead of 40. Sources say Paswan too has made up his mind now to only campaign for his own party candidates. In any case, ever since the BJP has sidled close to Jitan Ram Manjhi, Paswan is scared to directly attack Nitish or Lalu either.

Uttar Pradesh’s sharp-as-nails and heavyweight BJP leader Rajnath Singh may well be the second-most important person in the Cabinet, but he is unable to do much in his home ministry. So much so that a joke doing the rounds in the political corridors is that he is only an NDRF (disaster management) minster now. He has nothing to do with security measures, because all this is directly dealt by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. Not just that, Doval is directly communicating with home ministry officials from the joint secretary and additional secretary ranks. Clearly, this can only happen under Modi’s instructions. A few days ago, on the occasion of Independence Day, Rajnath’s ministry came out with a special feature on one year’s achievements — from August 15, 2014, to August 15, 2015. This is available on the PIB website as well, and has Rajnath’s signatures. An entire paragraph in the feature talks about the Naga deal. The PMO is frowning ever since the feature has been released because Rajnath Singh was kept away from the Naga talk; on directions from the PM, Ajit Doval was the primary person here, too.

A few recent decisions taken by the Central government has caused big upheavals in the Indian bureaucracy. The fraternity was shocked after it came to light that Ashvini Lohani, an engineer in railways services, has been appointed Air India’s CMD. The thing is, ever since Modi has taken over the reins in Delhi, he has given clear instructions to the PMO that an officer’s promotion to a significant and responsible position should be based only on his track record and efficiency. Sources say the prime minister has a special way of doing this – he asks for an objective dossier from PMO’s Nripendra Misra and P K Mishra, and Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth. This dossier has the names of people nominated by the three for any important post, along with a brief about the person. Then the prime minister himself chooses the person he thinks will be best suited for the post. Aggressive lobbying was on for Air India’s CMD’s post, but the PM ignored all the lobbying, pressure and appeals, and chose Lohani only because he has single-handedly turned around a nearly-dead Madhya Pradesh Tourism Department. Now the PM wants Lohani to show the same results with Air India. It will be interesting to see if Lohani can work his magic yet again.

An Anglophile state minister in the Modi government, who’s English is relied upon by a powerful minister, has got the government body worried with her bills of foreign tours. This woman minister’s bills reflect that most expenses were made on massage and spa treatments. She makes sure to enjoy the five-star hotel’s – where she stays during her foreign tours – massages and spa, and then bills it to the government. Sources say the PMO has made its displeasure known about it, and the woman minister has been warned to either bring down her spa, massage and beauty parlour bills, or pay for them from her own pocket. Ms Minister says that when she is on foreign tours, she gets really tired with the busy schedule and appointments. As a result, she has to resort to spa and parlour treatments, which play an important part in her professional abilities.