Ever since the announcement for Assembly elections in Haryana, the scramble for tickets in saffron party has become more frenzied. Because the lotus is set to bloom, every prominent BJP leader is trying to get a ticket for his or her relative. But the biggest win has been for BJP State President Ram Bilas Sharma, who has got a BJP ticket for his samdhi. Central minister and MP from Faridabad, Krishnapal Gujjar is also in the fray to find tickets for his relatives; he is trying to get one for his son Devendra Singh from the Tigaon Assembly seat, which comes under the Faridabad constituency. It is worth mentioning here that before becoming a Parliamentarian, Krishnapal was also an MLA from Tigaon. BJP MP from Ambala Ratanlal Kataria wants a ticket for his wife Banto Kataria from Neelokheri. Central Minister V K Singh wants a seat for his daughter; Rao Indrajit Singh, Parliamentarian from Gurgaon, wants a seat for his daughter Aarti Rao from Rewari; and BJP Parliamentarian from Tonk Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan and moneybag Sukhbir Singh Jaunpuria is asking for a party ticket for his son Ashok from Sohna Assembly seat. At the same time, General V K Singh also wants the same Sohna seat for his brother-in-law Aridaman Singh. The General is hoping for a ticket for his daughter from Bhiwani. All in all, relatives of BJP leaders are in a good place at present.

Spewing fire at journalists, the same Chandrashekhar Rao is going all out to please tennis star Sania Mirza. When Sania was about to leave for New York for the US Open, the chief minister gave her an encouragement amount of Rs one crore from the state coffers. When Mirza won the mixed doubles tournament at the US Open, the chief minister again gifted her a cheque of Rs one crore. Rao feels that ever since Mirza has become the brand ambassador for Telengana, her game has improved. Sania also believe that she has become more focused ever since she has met Rao.

Shiv Sena has joined the fray to allure new and young voters in Maharashtra for the coming Assembly elections. Party President Uddhav Thackeray’s son and head of the party’s youth wing Aditya Thackeray has taken the task upon himself and is trying to get more and more young voters to identify with Shiv Sena. For this, roadside gyms are being opened up in a big way in Mumbai and nearby areas, and these gyms are being inaugurated by Bollywood stars such as Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan and so on. It is believed that Aditya had also spoken to Salman Khan for the same but the latter cited a busy schedule and turned down the offer.

Zee TV Owner Subhash Chandra may not have got a BJP ticket from Hissar Assembly seat, but he isn’t disillusioned with the BJP and Sangh just yet. It is believed that Chandra’s direct connection is with Narendra Modi and recently Modi called him up and told him not to get tangled in state politics because the BJP is ready to bring him into the Rajya Sabha.

It’s not just Subhash Chandra. Swapan Dasgpupta, who has been singing paeans to the BJP, has also been assured by prominent members of the party that he will be nominated for a Rajya Sabha seat. In the recent past, there was a strong opinion that Swapan wants to become a High Commissioner to the UK. After the Modi government took over at the Centre, there was also news that he might be appointed the prime minister’s media advisor. Needless to say, Swapan Dasgupta is patiently waiting for acchey din to start for him.

Narendra Modi is foresighted for sure. The way he conducted his class for the students on September 5, it was clear that the strategy for the same had been decided much in advance. Converting Teacher’s Day into Guru Utsav means Modi and the BJP is eyeing children between 13-17 years of age who will be ready to vote in the next General Elections in 2019. To include these youngsters into “Modi Fan Club” means having the lotus bloom in no less than an additional 2 crore new voters.

Mulayam & Co. are in a shock at the way things are going against them in Uttar Pradesh. The way the BJP is influencing the masses in terms of fanatic Hinduism, and the way Hindu leaders have become extremely active in the recent past has made Akhilesh’s government pay attention to this is asking the state’s CID to keep a minute-by-minute report on the activities. The way things went awry in regards to love-jihad, the investigative agencies of the state told Akhilesh that several parts of UP are equipped with fanatic Hindu groups. For instance, Bareilly has a place called Thiriya Nijabat Khan, which is a locality of 25,000 people, of which 70 per cent are Muslims. This is an area where people have lived in communal harmony. No communal tensions have occurred here until now, and no riots have taken place. The famous mosque here has a temple right in front, where one day, four Hindu young men wanted to install a loudspeaker, and when the Maulana tried to stop it, things got bad and it came to fisticuffs. The young men ran away, but the entire area became tense. The UP CID then handed over a report that the four boys belong to Nagda in Indore.

Sources reveal that the IB has a big role to play in the never-ending troubles that seem to dog Ranjit Sinha. IB had started to keep a tab on Sinha ever since the IB and the CBI had come to a face-off about the Ishrat Jahan encounter case. A prominent IB official was looking at the entire matter with a lot of skepticism. It is believed that a verbal war had erupted between IB chief Ibrahim and Ranjit Sinha. It is said that a keen eye was kept on Sinha and his close aides ever since. At Sinha’s 2 Janpath residence, there is security from both Delhi Police and the ITBP jawans. It is worth remembering that before becoming the CBI chief, Sinha was a DG with the ITBP and he trusts its security far more. It is possible that this may not have gone down well with Delhi Police. Clearly, it is no secret who will gain from keeping a tab on visitors at the residence and bringing it to the notice of the IB.

In the upcoming Haryana Assembly elections, the battle between Zee and Jindal has taken an interesting turn. Sources close to the BJP say that the party senior leaders has assured Subhash Chandra that he may get a party ticket from Hissar against Savitri Jindal.Chandra has claimed that he has an influence over 20 Assembly seats in the state and as a result, he wants a BJP ticket for about a dozen of his supporters. All public opinion surveys have made it clear that the BJP may be all set to win more than 60 seats on its own. There was a time when a rumour was catching steam that Savitri and Navin Jindal were all set to join the BJP but things didn’t work out for them. But the Vaishya community in Hissar and nearby areas does not want two heavyweights of their community to contest against each other. Sensing the feelings of the Vaishya community, Chandra has now started to court the Jats. Sources reveal that around Diwali, the Jindal Saga-2 may give rise to a big explosion about coal and iron-ore mining and how the Jindal family is closely connected to the happenings in the sector. Jindal-owned Focus News channel is also getting ready to retaliate when the need arises.

The stage is being set for the BJP to take over in Delhi. Sources reveal that an SP leader and a prominent UP industrialist Saleem Shervani is said to play a big part in brining Najeeb and the BJP close. Sources are going so far to say that Saleem Shervani, who is a close relative of Najeeb Jung, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, met secretly with BJP President Amit Shah a few days ago. It is believed that Shah has given indications to Shervani that if he helps with the BJP coming to power in Delhi, the party may oblige him with a Rajya Sabha seat, with some conditions, of course. In any case, a top industrial family has close relations with Jung and the industrial house does not want that the AAP to come back to power in Delhi at any cost.