Ever since Krishna Gopal has taken over the matters in the BJP on Sangh’s behalf, for the BJP and Narendra Modi, the North East and Myanmar has become a part of the priority list. A big reason for this is that for the past decade, Krishna Gopal has done significant work in the North East and has also been the prabhari for the region. For the past 15 days, he was in the North East, and Suresh Soni also visited the region for a week. The Sangh has a lot of ground to cover at the grassroots level in the region. It was against this backdrop that Narendra Modi has raised the topic of Bangladeshi immigrants. At the same time, India has increased its influence in a big way in Myanmar. That is because this country has become a refuge for several terrorist outfits from the North East. Keeping this in mind, the Sangh has done considerable work in Myanmar.

The RJD, JD (U), JD (S), Indian National Lokdal, Samajwadi Janta Party (Chandrashekhar) and the SP may well have nominated Mulayam Singh as the leader of the new party, but several Lohiawadi colleagues of his fear that in the quest for forming a new party, an already established SP might go off track. Because the new party may be getting a new symbol from the Election Commission, but the SP’s symbol of cycle is known in far-off villages and towns. Obviously, it won’t be easy to take the new symbol to these places in a short period. But Netaji is pretty excited about the new party and a deflated Nitish is inflating the hopes of Netaji. The coming Assembly elections in Delhi, however, might show these hopes and ambitions the reality.

A senior leader of Sangh and BJP’s former prabhari Suresh Soni is writing a book about the influence of Hindu culture. He is also looking at making an e-book of ancient text (Prachin Vangyamay). At the same time, he continues his tenure as a Sangh pracharak. Last week, Soni was in Bangkok to take part in a Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh programme from November 29-December 1. He took part in the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s daily morning shakha that takes place at Rominent Park and then gave a speech at Dev Mandir Bangkok. In Soni’s honour, Bangkok’s Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee’s head Sundar Singh Manchanda hosted a dinner that was also attended by prominent citizens of Bangkok.

Politics is, indeed, a fickle partner. The party that, until a few months ago, had moneybags do its bidding, has to suffer empty coffers today. The party is in desperate need of funds; in fact, this paucity of funds started happening since the last General Elections, when big industrial houses read the writing on the wall and started to turn away from the Congress. The result was the party came under heavy debts from the banks. Sources reveal that the Congress has overdrafts to the tune of Rs 300 crore with several banks. Those on whom the party put the responsibility of bringing in funds turned up to be cipher. There is no one in Rahul’s team who can shoulder the hopes of the sinking party. Thus, Sonia has decided that it is better to let go off the new fund managers of the party and to bring in the old loyalists. Thus, Sonia’s trusted army seems to be back in action.

The event was Supreme Court’s honourable Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhyay’s daughter’s wedding. The ceremony was at Mr. Justice’s residence in Lutyen’s Delhi and a long line of distinguished guests could be seen there. But the most surprising entry was that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was at the venue at exactly eight o’ clock. Before this, when Justice Mukhopadhyay was the chief justice in Gujarat High Court and Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister, their relations had several chapters that were fraught with tensions. But Modi forgot the past differences and attended the wedding. It was like the entire Supreme Court was there, including Chief Justice of India H L Dattu. Several chief Justices of other high courts were also seen attending the wedding. Apart from Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, former Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and the three lawyers from the Congress, P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid and Abhishek Manu Singhvi were also present there. At the same time, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was seen talking keenly to Sangh’s sympathiser and NRI Anshuman Mishra.

The BJP’s former think tank and then Chanakya of the party Govindacharya may find the speculations about his possible entry into the party stalled for now. Used to listening to his heart and doing what he feels like, Govindacharya may consider Narendra Modi the most proactive Prime Minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, but he doesn’t hold himself back from sharply criticising some of Modi’s policies on education, labour, law, health, industry and election reforms. Thus his attention at present is about the Gau and Ganga (cow and River Ganga). At the same time, he is busy with the Bhartiya Sanskriti Utsav being organised by Bharat Vikas Sangam, which is to be held in Kaneri in Kolhapur from January 19-25. The seven-day event will have some serious discussions in relation to agriculture, youth, health and empowering the women. It is estimated that more than 1500 big and small groups will take part in the event. Additionally, Govindacharya is raising the matter of connecting the rivers in a big way; he is also asking the government what has happened in the matter?

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi may not have got any significant portfolio in the recent Cabinet reshuffle, and his seniority may have been kept aside and given the position of a minister of state, but in the position of minister of state for Parliament, he reminds one of Rajiv Shukla. Shukla’s floor management in the Upper House was as wonderful. Naqvi has close relations with leaders from the RJD, SP and Left parties. Maybe that is the reason three significant Bills – Labour Law Amendment Bill, Apprentice Bill and Police Establishment Bill — have been passed in the Rajya Sabha despite the BJP not having a majority there. It has, perhaps, happened for the first time that Left parties have retracted their Amendment on Labour Law; the Congress was in strict opposition to Labour Law and Apprentice Bill. Naqvi first speak to Sharad Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav about the Bills, then with his friends in the Left parties and turned the whole thing around. Naqvi is also reaching out directly to those MPs who can’t keep their opinion in front of Leaders of Opposition in the House Venkaiah Naidu. In this way, he is opening up a dialogue with the government.

To ensure that AAP’s political ambitions and intentions come to naught, a member of Anna’s group, who is also close to the BJP, has got the veteran Gandhian to go on hunger strike again. In any case, the BJP feels that they have, in some way or the other, benefited from Anna. Anna might repeat his act in January once again and present his list of half-a-dozen demands to the Modi government. Sources reveal that half of these demands may be readily accepted by the government. The entire political scene will take place before the Assembly elections so that Anna and Group may be able to hijack AAP’s agenda. Anna and Group strongly believe that the basic issues that have helped AAP stay grounded were the ones that were the brainchild of Anna.

The Aam Aadmi Party may face a lot of serious problems since its inception. Well-known faces of the party such as Yogendra Yadav, Manish Sisaudia and Kumar Vishvas have been relegated to the sidelines. New faces such as Ashish Khaitan and Ashutosh, who are being preferred by Kejriwal, are not very well known, and who could be capitalised on during the elections. Several prominent party leaders have joined the BJP and several others are planning to join the party. A part of AAP is working to find out how some party leaders from the Congress and other parties can be made to join the party. At the same time, AAP is facing a financial crunch at present; there has been a steep decline in the donations the party received from India and abroad. Of now, former investigative journalist Ashish Khaitan has taken it upon himself to bring funds into the party. Sources close to AAP say that Ashish has brought in big funds to the party in the past, too. It is worth remembering that Kejriwal had exposed the scam of India Bulls that was being run by a Congress family member, and had publicly pointed his finger at it. Then what was the reason Kejriwal had stopped mentioning its name? If sources are to be believed, the company had made a big donation to the party through Khaitan during the last Lok Sabha elections. It is thus possible that Kejriwal may soften his blows against corporate houses. That is because Khaitan may have a plan to approach them.

The Congress wanted to celebrate Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birthday with such pomp and show that its echoes be heard in the saffron camp, too. The responsibility to see it done fell on Anand Sharma, a favourite of 10, Janpath. He had claimed in Sonia durbar that he had personal relations with several international statespeople. As a result, it fell upon him to send invitations to all important heads of different countries. If we leave aside heads of a few small countries, no big international personality was seen attending the event. Anand Sharma shouldered the sole responsibility of organising the event. He didn’t take the pains to include any other Congress person in his team. Sharma wanted all the praise and compliments from Sonia to go to him. But where would the praise come from when the show was not a hit? Now Sharma is busy telling Sonia that it was Modi who didn’t want prominent heads of the countries to attend the event. The reality, however, is that Sharma’s reach was only till a few African countries and Karzai, who attended the event. But their coming didn’t gather enough headlines.