About four days ago, a small troupe of Modi loyalists got ready to give a fitting reply to the Congress inside the Parliament as well as outside. Most of them were concerned about Rahul, Sonia and the Congress’ direct attack on their veteran leader Sushma Swaraj. The Prime Minister had already made it clear that asking Sushma to resign at the last minute would mean giving in to Congress’ attack. Then a member of the group suggested changing Sushma’s ministry after Bihar elections. At that point, Parliament Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu came up with a plan – how about if Sushma, Vasundhara, Shivraj Singh and Pankaja Munde resign from the Parliament and assemblies, and go back to the public seeking votes and support? If they are elected back, the Congress too will consider it to be the public’s decision and shut up. Hearing this, a veteran minister close to the Prime Minister dismissed the idea outright. He wondered how Shivraj being elected back to office will bring back all those 50 people who lost their lives in Vyapam scam. As expected, the question resulted in an uncomfortable silence among the core committee.

This prominent industrialist of Bombay Club ruled the roost during the UPA, which is why his business empire rose to unprecedented heights during its rule. Despite being named in the 2G scam, his proximity to some big names in the BJP meant no harm came to him. During court hearings, too, his lawyers argue how important it is for him to attend the meeting in London. But this middle-aged businessman has become a regular face at several well-known nightclubs in London. He can be seen on his yacht, busy with beautiful Russian girls half his age. Due to his proximity to the Central government, he might get a lot of assistance from Russian banks for a big deal.

It’s like Nitin Gadkari has finally realised his overreaching ambition. He is being counted as one of the countless devotees of the Prime Minister. Pleased with him, Modi sent Gadkari in his own place for the inauguration of the now-expanded Suez Canal in Egypt. Gadkari went for the event along with his wife and stopped by in Dubai on his way, a place known for its shopping. On his way back, he went straight to Nagpur from Mumbai, where a meeting with the Sangh members had been fixed beforehand. Prior to this, Sangh head Mohan Bhagwat had gone to Gadkari’s residence to bless his newborn grandson.

It looks like the head of a major chit-fund company in India will have to spend a lot more time behind the bars. The Enforcement Directorate has found two of the company’s top executives involved in Hawala scam. As a result, both of them are seeing intensive investigation being done against them. Recently, Scotland Yard grabbed hold of the company head’s private secretary at a London airport with a lot of cash money. At present, action is being taken against the man under the British Law. The Income Tax Department has also confiscated a large amount of cash at the imprisoned man’s residence in Delhi. Sources say his wife and son have got the citizenship for Macedonia, a small Balkan country adjoining Greece, while his younger son made for Portugal. Moreover, a few prominent ministers in the Modi government at the Centre are ready to lend any help to the family so that his stay in prison can be made as luxurious as possible.

The Assembly elections might be round the corner but the BJP just won’t be bothered to pay attention to its coalition parties. In the light of the coming elections in Bihar, the saffron party is also looking for new partners. These are just a few things that are not agreeable to Ram Vilas Paswan, a coalition partner with the Central government. His grouse is that whenever he tries to talk to the Central party leaders about seat sharing for Bihar, the BJP high command sends an instruction saying he should first gather crowds for Modi’s rallies. Sources say Paswan is also peeved because BJP President Amit Shah is paying more attention to politicians such as Jiten Ram Manjhi and Pappu Yadav. At the same time, heavyweight leaders are busy courting people such as Anand Mohan’s wife Lovely Anand, and Sunil Pandey to join the BJP. BJP’s top leadership also wants the decision of seat sharing with allies should be taken around September 10, and this irks a politician like Paswan.

When some media houses, which would sing paeans to Modi until some time ago, changed their tone and tenor about the Central government, the latter’s attitude towards them changed, too. As soon as an English channel with the punchline of “The nation wants to know” and its sharp-shooting and popular presenter increased its attacks against Modi government, and asked for resignations of ministers regarding Lalitgate and some other matters, the government also became strict with the owners of the channel. A tez channel, which is supposed to be a supporter of the government, had to sell off its FM radio channel to the one mentioned above. But it is believed that despite the final agreement being signed, the information and broadcasting ministry has still not cleared the file. Tired of it all, the channel owners went to the Prime Minister and briefed him about the situation. It is said that the Prime Minister’s heart melted a bit at this; in return, however, the channel owners have had to tell their sharp-shooting news presented to pipe down a bit; the channel has also reduced its pitch on the resignations of Sushma and other ministers and chief ministers. It’s true after all – the government’s thinking may be small, but its hands are indeed long.

“Controlling” and “reining in” are two words that the country’s all-powerful person likes the most. And now after having used this on the party people, ministers and Parliamentarians, he wants to try it out on journalists. It is worth remembering that this is the same media that had crossed all limits when it came to singing the Modi-song during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Today, Modi government’s attitude on the same media has hardened, somewhat. Sources reveal that the home ministry has sent a recommendation to the information and broadcasting ministry, saying that journalists recognized by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) will have to get their PIB recognition renewed every year. Arun Jaitley, who is liked by the press, is not agreeable to this idea by his own government. Thus, he is holding on to the file for now, but how long can one do that?

The Indian industry is going through restless times. The immense expectations that they had of Modi government don’t seem to be moving towards realization. On the contrary, the Central government’s attitude towards taxes and finance laws is becoming stricter. There is a provision of going to jail under a law for FERA. Laws regarding income tax, money laundering, and customs and excise are being connected directly to jail term now. Waiting for new winds of liberalization, these industrialists are now scared of the new laws. Bureaucracy and red-tapism is as big a grouse as it ever was. As a result, several Indian corporate are looking for greener pastures in foreign lands. Instead of the US, it’s London and Dubai that have emerged as their favoured destinations now. Several big corporate such as Jaypee and Essar are looking actively to sell their share of companies. Most of them are also looking at getting their successors (sons/ daughters) settle down abroad. While there were hopes that foreign investments will pour in after the change of guard at the Centre, it seems like domestic money is flowing out of the country now.

This is from the first week of the Parliament’s Monsoon Session. There was mayhem in both Houses about seeking resignations from Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Sushma Swaraj. The Parliament’s work was stuck amidst all the shouting. In the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Modi moved towards the Opposition benches where the Opposition lawyers were standing with placards about the Vyapam Scam and shouting slogans. Among the crowd of Member of Parliament, he noticed Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, Hanumant Rao, who was holding a placards seeking Shivraj’s resignation. The prime minister stopped in front of Hanumant Rao for a second and merely said, “You too?”. Rao felt shaken up. It is worth remembering that just a few days before this, Rao had gone to the prime minister’s residence and honoured him because the country had such a prominent leader in his form, who is from a backward caste. Rao has formed a coordination committee of OBC Members of Parliament, and he heads the committee. A sensible Rao understood that the “You too?” by Modi wasn’t to express surprise, but was a reprimand about how he could ask for the resignation of an OBC chief minister.

Seeing the way things are going in the Monsoon Session, BJP and its leader Narendra Modi are being forced to change their strategy. Led by Modi, the government’s floor managers have strategized that they will have to have pleasant relations with the leaders of Opposition parties such as the Congress. Modi was impressed with Shashi Tharoor’s extempore debate; he had decided he will stand up and praise the latter for it and that all BJP leaders will slap their desks in approval. But when Modi didn’t get a chance to do this in the Parliament, he showered his praise upon Tharoor during the Speaker’s meeting in the Parliament Annexe. The news spread. When Tharoor said that the Parliament should be allowed to function during the Congress’ core committee meeting, Sonia and Rahul put his down in one voice. But on non-Congress platforms, Tharoor is still not shying from praising Modi.