A new relationship may be unfolding between the BJP and the Sangh Parivar after the saffron flag has managed to come up tops in Maharashtra and Haryana. But the most significant thing is that the knots of relations are coming undone and the equation between Modi and Bhagwat is changing the very fabric of BJP-Sangh understanding. Krishna Gopal, who is a Brahmin from Mathura and on whom Sangh head Mohan Bhagwat has implicit faith, has now taken it upon himself to bridge the gap in the relationship between the two organisations. Suresh Soni had been in-charge of the BJP for a long time and for the past two years, rumours are rife about him leaving. But he lost his sheen somewhat after being names in the Vyapam Scam. One thing is for sure, though, that Soni’s departure is going to affect the political future of several BJP politicians. Everyone knows that Soni was known to be extremely close to Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh. Apart from these two, Soni’s loyalists included Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Prakash Javdekar, Nirmala Seetharaman and Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra’s late OBC later Gopinath Munde was also in Soni’s good books. It is worth remembering that it was Soni who had forwarded the political career of Devendra Fadnavis on the cost of a public leader and orator from Vidarbha, Sudhir Mungantiwar.

When the UPA was in power, Advani spoke from the heart of a journalist who was close to him and had said that the way the Congress’ graph is plunging all over the country, the BJP’s graph isn’t climbing up with the same alacrity. Advani feels that the space that was being vacated by the Congress is being taken over by regional parties. Narendra Modi was Gujarat’s chief minister at that time and there were innumerable challenges in his way to be nominated as the prime ministrial candidate. Even then Modi would tell those close to him that if the BJP was a Hindi heartland party, why did it need crutches of any sort? Clearly, Modi was targeting Nitish Kumar at that time, and back then Modi was also worried that the BJP had no major strength in the west, east or south. At that very time, Modi had made a decision that no matter what the results of Lok Sabha elections in 2014 are, the BJP will contest the elections on its own. After all, the BJP had nothing to lose, except ambitious dreams of those politicians who were more than 75 years old. So after Haryana and Maharashtra, the Modi-Shah due are going to put their entire weight behind elections in West Bengal and South India. In Punjab, too, the party has woven the “Ekla chalo” (walk alone) strategy. So in the south, Modi wants neither the DMK nor the AIDMK. In Odisha, too, the party’s organisation is being given newer strengths. The Sangh is giving all its support to Modi-Shah for this work because Sangh’s branches and its people are all over India and the world.

The repercussions of Suresh Soni’s departure may soon be heard in the higher echelons of the BJP’s organisational section. People who had the support of Soni in some form of the other will see themselves stand on shaky ground. The same way there are indications that BJP’s General Secretary (organisation)Ram Lal may be gone, too. One should mention here that Ram Lal was considered to be very loyal to Soni and then party President Rajnath Singh, too, had a big role to play in his appointment as the party’s general secretary. Sources reveal that Shiv Prakash Singh, a resident of Thakur Dwara in Moradabad, may be considered in Ram Lal’s place. He has also been RSS pracharak for a long time and it is believed that he was also the one who gave birth to the current Love Jihad theory. Shiv Prakash has extremely warm relations with Rajnath Singh and Yogi Adityanath. After much deliberation and thought, gave an entry to Shiv Prakash and Ram Madhav into the BJP, so that the Sangh maintains its grip on the saffron party. Thus, if Shiv Prakash does take Ram Lal’s place, he will have to come face-to-face with several challenges.

Efforts have begun to give a new definition to BJP and Sangh’s relationship. Krishna Gopal too has devised a strategy to give the equation between the two a new start and this strategy surely includes Mohan Bhagwat’s overreaching ambition. It is worth mentioning that until now, Suresh Soni was single-handedly responsible for a tandem between the two organisations. But he had so many fans in the BJP that he appeared to be advocating the BJP’s point of view more than the Sangh’s. Bhagwat used to be upset with Soni about this. When Suresh Soni realised it is becoming tough for him to stay in post, he advocated Dattatreya Hosabale to take his position but Hosabale is eyeing some long-term goals and he has a long list of those who like him in the BJP as well. It is believed that Modi was not in favour of having Ananth Kumar in his Cabinet, but had to agree to it on cajoling by Dattatreya. The condition was that he will work on trying to convince the top brass in the Sangh Parivar for Amit Shah to be appointed as the BJP party president. That is because it is believed that the Sangh Sar Sanchalak Mohan Bhagwat himself was of the opinion that the prime minister and the party president should not be from the same state but gave in after pressure from Dattatreya and Soni. So, when Soni put forward Dattatreya’s name, Bhagwat made use of his veto power and put his weight behind Krishna Gopal’s name. Bhagwat believes in no uncertain terms that Sangh is not a subsidiary organisation of the BJP and thus the reins of control in the Sangh should be in the hands of those who can direct BJP leaders. Krishna Gopal is more diplomatic than Soni and has good relations with both Bhagwat and Modi.

To forge new links between the Sangh and the BJP, there are five people who are playing a big role when it comes to crucial decisions related to the government and the organisations. Apart from Narendra Modi and Mohan Bhagwat, the quintet includes Krishna Gopal, Amit Shah and J P Naddha. Apart from being the prabhari in the BJP from Sangh, Krishna Gandhi is also the Sah Sarkaryawah.

After Modi’s sun has risen in the political scene, old members of his fan club have been getting lots of work and a good price for that, too. But they are still struggling with having an identity of their own. Take Ashok Malik, for instance, who had a lot of expectation of getting a good position in the PMO. But turning a blind eye to his feelings, Modi “attached” him to Ram Madhav, which means he is doing all he can to make Modi’s foreign policy known. He is in Australia at the moment, and is working on the Prime Minister’s possible trip to the country. He is working like a think tank in Modi’s team but his position as one has not been formally known. Take another prominent member of Modi brigade – Swapan Dasgupta; there was a lot of news that he might become India’s High commissioner in London or a media advisor to the Prime Minister. But what happened to all that? Kanchan Gupta wanted something similar, but despite singing paeans to Modi, he is still waiting. Surya Prakash is also considered to be close to Modi and there was a lot of talk that he will be made the CEO of Prasar Bharti but the result was the same – nothing. Similarly, Tarun Vijay and Sheshadrichari are facing the same fate. All these people who were nursing dreams of something big were handed the proverbial “Babaji ka thullu” by Modi. What Modi has done is that to keep people in his brigade busy, he has attached them to significant ministers informally. Sources close to Modi reveal that the prime minister is no mood to oblige his friends at the government’s cost.

Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval may be the apple of Modi’s eyes and has recently been allotted a bungalow at 5, Janpath, but the moot question remains. Which is, why hasn’t he been given a minister’s status so far? It is worth mentioning how during NDA’s rule, then popular Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpeyee had given the title of National Security Advisor to Brijesh Mishra, and then Mishra had been given the minister’s status. The tradition was later maintained by UPA-I and UPA-II, which subsequently ruled at the Centre. But the significant question of why Ajit Doval has not got a minister’s status remains. Is there a premeditated strategy of Modi’s behind this?

It is true that the founder of ‘Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ Kailash Satyarthi winning the Nobel Peace Prize is a matter of national pride. At the same time, the coming days may see a controversy emerging that people with more credentials were there in the race for the prize. Some of Satyarthi’s old allies are going to raise the question whether his entire lobbying was done by the Christian lobby. Some people are also making the allegations that the credit for ruining the carpet industry also goes to Satyarthi and the entire venture of exporting carpets worth many crores to foreign countries was consciously ruined by talking about child labour in the industry. Sources also claim that when Swami Agnivesh associated himself with the organisation as Satyarthi’s associate, he gave ’Bachpan Bachao Andolan’ a new direction. Agnivesh has a crucial role to play in making the project more extensive and covering new ground. But it is said that Agnivesh’s wearing saffron clothes was not appreciated by the Christian lobby in Western countries. In such a scenario, Satyarathi had made a place for himself and the lobby had been trying to lobby for him for the past 14 years. It is said that in 2006, Kailash Satyarthi’s name for the Nobel Peace Prize had been shortlisted to the last 10 candidates. But the Nobel Committee was not sure about how extensive his work was, and so the entire Christian lobby set on clarifying the doubts. The result is there for all to see. It’s all right it the entire process took nearly eight years to complete.

Shashi Tharoor’s troubles have increased after a new medical report regarding Sunanda Pushkar’s mysterious death. It will not be easy for him to escape the investigations and neither will singing praises for Modi help him. There was two primary points of debate in the entire episode: why where the close circuit cameras at hotel The Leela not working, which could have given the answers on who entered Sunanda’s room. Thus, the cameras in the hotel’s gallery were not able to capture them and in such a scenario, the question that emerges is: was the move to make her stay in such a hotel deliberate? And if Sunanda was indeed so unwell on the day of her death, why did Tharoor leave her for an entire day? Sources also say that the poison that was supposed to be given to Sunanda was of a Russian origin, which was difficult to detect in blood or viscera reports. This is the reason investigative agencies are not ruling out the involvement of a foreign hands.

This is an important exercise to get Priyanka Gandhi into active politics. A new website, priyankagandhi.com is going to go live soon, through the medium of which Congress workers will be able to connect directly with Priyanka. Enthusiastic journalists might also be able to avail of the facility and indulge in a Q&A with her. Sonia Gandhi’s tenure as party president expires next year. Thus, Rahul brigade wants that Sonia should take on the role of a ‘margdarshak’ and the role of the party president should be handed over to Rahul Gandhi. Where Priyanka is concerned, she has already made it clear that she has no problems working under Rahul’s leadership. In such a scenario, important responsibilities might be handed over to her.