The two Thackeray brother Uddhav and Raj may still not be seeing eye to eye, but keen politician Modi has got Raj Thackeray to agree that in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Raj’s MNS will not launch any of its candidates to contest. Raj and NaMo have been friends for a long time, and because of this, NaMo has also promised Raj that when the Maharashtra Assembly elections are held, the BJP will openly and completely support the MNS, without worrying if it will upset Uddhav. 

In his party’s Tamil Nadu rally, Venkaiah Naidu came up with a really smart one – the coming elections will not be about Aiya (the veterans, that is Karunanidhi), Amma (Jayalalitha) but all about Bhaiya (Modi). 

Fingers are being pointed from all directions about Modi’s knowledge. In his Kolkata rally, too, Modi made a mistake about the area that West Bengal occupies. And Rajnath Singh, who usually weighs his words before he speak them out aloud got confused between Singur and Nandigram. It seems his political advisor Sudhanshu Trivedi is focusing less on the party president’s speeches and more on his own bytes to the TV channels. Trivedi is currently getting a lot of compliments on Facebook to be a media advisor of the future prime minister Rajnath Singh. Looks like Dr Trivedi in his hurry wrote Nandigram in place of Singur in Singh’s speech. In his excitement, Rajnath Singh said that he was with Mamata Banerjee about the question of land acquisitions in Nandigram, although Tata’s Nano plant and land acquisition fiasco was all in Singur. Mr President, this is the time to sort out the smaller issues, because it is the smaller problems that stand in the way of bigger roles. 

P P Rao’s claim to fame is not just his closeness to 10, Janpath. The headlines have chased him every now and then. Take the Justice Dinakaran matter, for instance. Rao had been appointed in the eminent jury category for the case and had to resign from the post. It is worth mentioning here that Dinakaran had challenged his appointment in the Supreme Court, with the argument, “As a lawyer, Rao used to render me (Dinakaran) advice. He has already seen the files and has signed a memorandum against me. Thus, how can a man who has already charged me as guilty be the judge?” Supreme Court had then advised the chairman of the Rajya Sabha that some other judge be appointed in place of Rao. This new matter should also be explored – will the road to becoming the Lokpal be easy for Rao?

This story begins about three years ago, when Shahrukh Khan and Arjun Rampal were the best of friends. Shahrukh has friends in abundance in the Congress. Several of his friends are even a part of Manmohan Singh’s government. So, he spoke to one of his politician friends and got Rampal a discotheque in a five-star hotel on a monthly lease of Rs 30 lakh. Rampal was the face of the business and Shahrukh was a silent partner. Despite a lot of song and dance, business remained lukewarm. ITDC, which runs the hotel, kept asking for the lease-rent and Arjun kept defaulting on the payment. When Shahrukh saw the business sinking, he distanced himself from it. In three years, Rampal owned company now owes about Rs 4.5 crore. So when the ITDC asked him for clear the dues again, Rampal approached the court for waiving off the payment. The court gave him a dressing down and asked him to deposit Rs 1.5 crore immediately. While Arjun has made that payment, he is looking at ways to claim bankruptcy to get out of the Rs three crore payment. A friend of Bollywood’s richest man coming to this?

A few days ago, a journalist friend was in a candid chat with Amit Shah, one of the most reliable of Modi’s men, and asked him if Narendra Modi becomes the prime minister in May, what portfolio would be take in the Cabinet? Without blinking, Shah said, “If Modi becomes the PM, I’ll be Gujarat’s CM.”

Three BJP biggies are shown as facing defeat even in the internal surveys by the party. These are Yashwant Sinha from Hazaribagh, Murli Manohar Joshi from Varanasi and Ananth Kumar from Bengaluru. Maybe this is the reason that this Thursday, Ananth Kumar invited and met with prominent Lingayat politician Yeddyurappa at his residence in Delhi. He has requested him to bury the past and to form a new friendship in future.

Aam Aadmi Party’s growing political clout is compelling even the prominent and seasoned politicians to reconsider their stand. If sources are to be believed, ever since there is news that Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisaudia might contest the Lok Sabha elections from Ghaziabad, BJP’s prominent Thakur leader Rajnath Singh wants to vacate his Ghaziabad seat and opt for Lucknow.

At a time when one of the biggest contenders to the seat at the Centre is shaping up its final strategy for the election Mahabharata, a face-off is on at veteran leader Advani’s home between the son and father. Sources reveal that the discussions got so heated up between father Advani and son Jayant that the son has left his father’s house and moved to a flat at the Commonwealth Games Village. A source that knows the Advani family closely claims that the bone of contention in the entire drama is Advani’s political inheritance. Advani’s daughter Pratibha and son Jayant both are keen on take up active politics. Jayant is so eager that he went to Gandhinagar and met Modi. It is believed that during the meeting, he even asked Modi for Advani’s Parliament seat of Gandhinagar, saying, “My father is past his prime now and is not keen on contesting elections.” Modi called up Advani and asked him, “Will you contest or shall I gave the ticket to your son?” Needless to say, there was a lot of friction between the father and son after that.

Sentenced to death by a court in Bangladesh, Ulfa separatist top leader Paresh Barua will make it tough for the Ulfa cadre to go to the neighbouring Bangladesh and seek refuge. Reliable sources reveal that Paresh Barua is currently staying at Kunming, between Myanmar and China. Ulfa and Barua have a relationship with Bhutan than can be traced back a long time. When Ulfa’s activities were at their peak, its centre was in Bhutan. When relations between Bhutan and India improved, Bhutan chased away Barua from its land at the will of India. Thereafter Barua made Bangladesh his headquarters with the help of Pakistan and he also got support from Khaleda Zia. During that time, Barua’s business spread like never before and was worth nearly Rs 10,000 crore, and included everything from hotels, jute industry, shipping and transport. If Paresh Barua is found guilty, all his property will be confiscated. At the same time, Bangladesh has decided to hand over Anoop Chetia to India. Intelligence sources have revealed that even today, about 200-250 dangerous Ulfa terrorists are holed up in the north-east and pose a big danger for Indian sovereignty.