There is nothing new about ministers in the government visiting each other’s house, hosting dinners for cabinet colleagues, not it’s a kind of breaking news. But when recently Sushma Swaraj was spotted at the official residence of Rajnath Singh for lunch and they spoke for hours on issue of governance, it did raise some eyebrows.

The internal tussle between Sangh and Modi has resulted in new equations; it is believed that in altered political circumstances Sangh is not ready to blindly follow Modi; rather they want to distance themselves with Modi’s self-proclamation politics of I, Me, Myself. Perhaps this is the reason why Sangh chief Bhagwat is openly making statements on internal matters of BJP. Sangh leaders have held many marathon meetings in recent times. The sources from Sangh disclose that Bihar assembly polls could be the last elections under the presidentship of Shah. A new party president is likely to be appointed in November, if sources are to be believed, Sangh is not ready for Shah’s second term as a party president. On more than one occasion, Mohan Bhagwat has told Modi that party president and the Prime Minister should not be from the same state. If Bhagwat’s theory gets approved then either Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda or Rajnath Singh would be the frontrunners in the race. And, if the choice is left between the three, then politically abreast Modi will favour Nadda for the post.

If the correct strategy in politics is using the opportunity at right time, then ex IPS Kiran Bedi has proved to have mastered it. She has clearly overpowered many old guards of the Saffron party to begin her new career in politics. Just before joining BJP, when she called on Prime Minister along with Amit Shah, Modi made it evident that he wants her to enter election arena against Arvind Kejriwal. However, she gave a rude shock to newly anointed Chanakya Shah when she politely declined Modi’s offer and opted to for four other constituencies of her choice. Her first choice was that of Krishna Nagar constituency, which did Dr Harshavardhan vacate recently. Dr Harshvardhan has done a lot of work here and it can be considered an easy seat for BJP. Sources reveal that other than this Bedi had also shown interest in contesting from Kasturba Nagar, Malviya Nagar or Shalimar Garden assembly seats. Bedi’s resurgence has not just created political euphoria within BJP, but even Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat has stated his displeasure publicly. On the other hand the e-battle between BJP and AAP has already begun over Bedi. The e-army of AAP is challenging Bedi to contest against Kejriwal. While, Bedi has a bigger motive and she has kept her eyes set on the target.

The letter from Sonia Gandhi to all state congress committees has made it clear that soon Rahul Gandhi will be whole and sole of the Congress party. Sonia has confirmed that party’s vice-president Rahul is fit to lead and a declaration in this regard is likely to be made soon. In fact, after withstanding the worst of critics from every quarter, Rahul too has started working on his reincarnation. The greatest allegation against Rahul is that he does not listen to senior party leaders and trust only his close associates. To counter this perception, Rahul recently invited over 300 party leaders from across the country and met them in a group of 10 each for about three hours. On party forum as well, he seems to be taking firm decisions in recent times. While preparations for Delhi Assembly elections, when most of the party men agreed that the battle in Delhi is between BJP and AAP and they should support AAP candidates to play spoilsport for BJP, Rahul had a different view. Rahul told them that party’s vote percentage in 2013 election was about 25% and they should fight with determination and try to increase vote percentage. He also suggested that new faces should be brought into make the challenge interesting. Congress’s third list makes his view evident enough. The party is openly confronting AAP in recent campaigns, this has in turn helped party gain over 8 seats in opinion polls.

Despite the legal aid, those caught in the fire of Coal scam have chosen rally around abodes of God for respite. Their reverence spree has reached from Kashi to Kamakhya. Sources divulge that Sriprakash Jaiswal, Praful Patel and Vijay Darda’s adulations are not just limited to temple visits but they are also conducting regular chanting of ‘Mantras’ for reprieve. One ex-minister has gone to the extent of conducting ‘Baglamukhi Japa’ at Shiva’s Markandeya Mahesh Temple at Gazipur. The temple is known for devotees praying here for fulfillment of their wishes. Sources tell that Sriprakash Jaiswal is eating chapatis from Jail since past three months to escape ‘Jail Yog’(respite from going to Jail). Interestingly, when a person is in trouble, then only he remembers God.

As the Delhi elections are getting closer, the vote ratio between AAP and BJP are being narrowed. The ruling party has thrown a big challenge by bringing Kiran Bedi and Shazia Ilmi in the race in order to lure young and women voters. In comparison to 2013 assembly elections, AAP had lost badly to BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls under Modi wave. AAP lost its influence badly in middle class belts. AAP could only perform well in areas of Dalit and Muslim dominated regions, other than slums. If we consider AAP’s star performer Manish Sisodia’s feat in 2013, he won in 122 of 181 polling booths, while in 2014 General elections AAP could secure only 28 polling booths in Patparganj. During 2014 elections AAP lost in their strongholds, It won only 41 in Vinod Nagar, 26 booths in Mandawali, 22 in Mayur Vihar. In 2013 assembly elections AAP had won 97 out of 164 polling booths in Lakshmi Nagar, could only muster win on 10 polling booths during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Lalu’s fresh love affair with Mulayam is nothing but a wholesome political gimmick; otherwise, these two tall politicians were always found deploring each other. Mulayam had publicly stated that after the downfall of Deve Gowda, it was Lalu who had come between him and the PM’s chair. Similarly, lalu had openly criticized him in public meetings after Muzaffarnagar riots, now both have turned relatives. And now they are geared up for another political battle, the news is that there were seven Rajya sabha seats in SP’s quota to be filled up in 2016, Mulayam has promised one of the seats to Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi and the second seat he is keeping for KC Tyagi.

Bhartiya Janata Party President Amit Shah is all set to give a face-lift to his team after auspicious Makar Sankranti. Vacancies created after inclusion of many team members in the union cabinet are likely to be filled during the forthcoming overhaul. The lobbying has begun for the post of ‘general secretary’. Sources reveal that Arun Jaitley is keen on promoting two of his close associates Srikant Sharma and Anurag Thakur. On the other hand, Modi-Shah team wants to apply Yashwant Sinha’s formula with Anurag Thakur. As party endorsed Sinha’s foreign-return son, Jayant Sinha after sidelining the senior Sinha from the active politics, they want Dhumal too to walk away from active politics before his son Anurag gets his due. It is also possible that as a reward for party’s decisive win in Haryana, Kailash Vijayvargiya gets the post of general secretary. At the same time, keeping forthcoming Bihar elections in mind, party can also consider Nand Kishore Yadav for this post. Whereas Ananth Kumar is advocating the name of R Ashok, to fill the vacancy created after his induction into the cabinet. On the other hand, Yeddyurappa group is lobbying for Arvind Limbavali. Harish Dwivedi is frontrunner for the post of party’s youth wing president.

While on one hand political parties like BJP and AAP are busy making all efforts for upcoming Delhi Assembly election, working out permutation and combinations and leaving no stone unturned to achieve success, the scion of Congress party was busy holidaying abroad until three days before Modi’s mega rally in Delhi. A group of senior congressmen are urging him to take over the party’s reign (It is believed that Sonia is likely to give her consent on this issue during forthcoming Congress working committee meeting on Tuesday and it may be formally announced in March), on the other hand a large number of annoyed congress members have begun voicing their concerns on the party platform. Few have gone to the extent of chiding that Rahul’s shift to ‘Tuglaq Lane’ has influenced his attitude as well. He has been making erratic decisions these days. Rahul has been accused of running the party like a private limited firm and he is behaving rashly with senior party leaders. Amid the heat of Delhi Assembly polls, Rahul appointed hardcore English-speaking PC Chako as in charge of Delhi elections, gave the responsibility of screening committee to AK Antony, and left for Christmas and New Year vacations. Interestingly, Hindi-speaking candidates were left in lurch on the issue of communicating with Antony or Chako, as they only speak English. Otherwise, also, the face of Rahul’s core team has completely changed, Digvijay Singh and Kanishka Singh have been sidelined, and Jairam Ramesh is almost in the same situation. Shankar, Sachin Rao, Mohan Gopal, Madhusudan Mistry and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh are at the helm in Rahul’s Darbar these days. Jairam and Mohan Gopal cannot see each other eye to eye. Mohan Gopal lives by the theory that as soon as Modi will grow ‘unpopular’, Rahul’s graph will automatically incline.

Rahul is facing severe criticism from party men against many of his recent decisions. Snatching party’s Punjab leadership from Capt. Amarinder Singh and handing it over to Partap Singh Bajwa prompted Amarinder to rush to Sonia Gandhi to express his displeasure. Bhupinder Singh Hooda was next in line, whose reputation among Jat population was ignored while handing over the party’s command to Kiran Choudhary. Similarly, if Rahul had not broken its poll alliance with JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha) in Jharkhand and National Conference in J&K, the poll results would have been far better for the Congress. There were almost eight assembly seats in J&K where congress candidates lost is less than 1000 votes. There is another grievance against Rahul making round that Deepak Babaria, Prakash Joshi and Bhanwar Jitendra Singh are involved of every screening committee set up by Rahul. Rahul’s relations with Bhanwar go back since the time he along with Priyanka and Robert used to visit JIM Corbett for vacations. Bhanwar’s father-in law held the post of Director at Jim Corbett then.