Now it is no longer a secret that Pranab da was not Sonia Gandhi’s first choice. If Mamata drama had not taken place on a national level, Pranab da’s leaping ambition may have been sacrificed to political wheeling-dealing. When Mamata and Mulayam called a joint press conference on Wednesday, Sonia and Co. did not have a choice but to go on the back foot. That very evening Sonia called up Pranab and she told dada, “We only took your name, Mamata is unnecessarily creating an issue.” Sonia also told dada to meet her at 10, Janpath the next morning.

Known as the god of cricket in India, Sachin Tendulkar after all found time for the oath ceremony for his Rajya Sabha membership. He will reach Delhi on Monday and will directly make for Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Shukla’s residence at 5, Safdarjung Road. After tea and refreshments, Sachin will go with Shukla ji to the Parliament in his car. Until now, this is the news that is doing the rounds that Sachin will enter from gate number 12 keeping in mind the media and camera person’s crowd that is sure to be there, the gate may be changed. After the swearing in ceremony, Sachin will meet have a formal meeting with the vice president. That same evening, he has asked for time to meet the prime minister at 4 pm and Sachin is supposed to come back to Mumbai on Monday itself. An expert on politics and PR, Shukla has learnt many lessons from his Rekha experience. Rekha too reached directly to Rajiv Shukla’s home on the swearing-in day and from there on to the Parliament. But there was such a crowd of journalists there that she could not get out of her car for several minutes. Shukla ji is not so worried about Sachin because he knows Sachin is media friendly and knows how to deal with the media well. Shukla ji is a former journalist and Sachin has handled him well until now.

Why is Pranab da’s name not doing the rounds from the Congress side despite all the attempts? The central reason for this is Mamata and the fact that somewhere, 10, Janpath doesn’t entirely trust him. It is believed that when Mamata met Sonia a few days ago, Mamata had dismissed Pranab da’s candidacy in one fell swoop. Mamata thinks that if the President of the country is already a Bengali, there is little chance for her to become the PM. When Sonia tried to ask Mamata about Mamata, Mamata named Meira Kumar. Being a Bihari, even Nitish will not be able to refuse Meira’s name, and Mulayam will also support the dalit card here. Which means Meira may emerge as the main candidate for the President’s post with the support of Mamata, Nitish and Mulayam.

Upfront, the Mumbai matter may be looked upon as a win for Modi and loss for Gadkari, but the truth is that Gadkari has won despite the loss and he has emerged as the new baazigar of political moves. Which means that in Modi’s winning lies the loss of several leaders of the party, who have knowingly or unknowingly been on the Sangh’s radar for some time. There are also signs that in his next tenure Gadkari could take some big and important decisions. There is political clarity on the fact that for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi will be the face of the BJP and the party will approach the elections as the candidate for PM. If Nitish is not happy with it, so be it – the party has started to explore new coalition partners. In any case, Modi and Jayalalithaa’s friendship is no secret.

Baba Ramdev has emerged as a media mogul of sorts. Ever since he has decided on attacking the ruling side and the Congress, he has learnt how to use political language and mannerisms to his maximum advantage. Baba suspects that nourished by the Congress, the media was more aggressive towards him than was necessary. So he has decided that apart from his religious channels, he will launch two news channels in the days to come. If information got from sources is to be believed, apart from news channels, Baba will also start three national newspapers in English, Hindi and Urdu. The ruling side better get ready for an attack from all sides on Baba Ramdev.

The opposition to giving Nitin Gadkari a second term has started. And those fanning the opposition fire are a few prominent party leaders and the second-line leaders from the Advani camp. Leaders such as Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha have even threatened that if the Sangh continues to push a second tenure for Gadkari, they will boycott the National Working Committee meeting of the party, which is slated to be held on May 24-25. Narendra Modi is all set to come for the first session of the meeting but some of the party leaders are trying to tell him that his being a part of the meeting will only give further boost to Gadkari’s cause. Sensing Gadkari’s second tenure, the media has also suddenly started to plant stories against him. This entire story is an on the record presentation of what was off the record.

The million dollar question is if Kapil Sibal and Anna Hazare have patched up away from prying eyes. What is the reason that Anna, who would forever be miffed with Sibal, has now changed tack? So much so that even Baba Ramdev is avoiding making a direct attack at Sibal nowadays. Anna too has not confronted Sibal for a while now. Sources reveal that nearly four months ago, a bureaucrat of the level of joint secretary from Sibal’s human resource and development ministry, along with two Marathi friends (who were old acquaintances of Anna) went to Ralegaon Siddhi. The IAS officer took to Anna like a hold man or a guru and the result of the same is there for all to see.

BJP leader S S Ahluwalia may well have lost the Rajya Sabha seat from Jharkhand, but several party leaders are seeing a sight of their own win in this loss. The moment election results from Jharkhand were announced, Maya Singh, Rajeev Pratap Rudy and Arun Jaitley quipped to Javed Akhtar, who was nominated for the Rajya Sabha and said, “Javed bhai, your interest in the Jharkhand elections for Rajya Sabha is surprising and you look extremely happy with the results.” To which Javed retorted, “No sir, I am just towing the line of other BJP leaders.”

Central Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh can make headlines of any issue he touches upon. Jairam’s current passion is toilets and he wants every village in the country to have a Sulabh Shauchalaya. When those from the Sulabh Andolan picked up Anita Narey of Baitul in Madhya Pradesh and awarded her on how she left her husband’s home since his house didn’t have a toilet, Jairam picked up Anita’s case and even had her meet the President. The newest case is that of Priyanka from Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh, who also left her in-laws’ house because there was no toilet. Sulabh people are giving her Rs 2 lakhas a reward. Now will Jairam also put Priyanka in the limelight?

Just a fortnight ago, this column had claimed that the Sangh has decided to give Nitin Gadkari as second term as the BJP President. To talk clearly to those prominent party leaders who were against his second tenure and were preparing for the same were visited by the Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat from Nagpur to Delhi. Bhagwat clearly told leaders such as Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi that it was time they set aside their ambitions of leading the party and take on the role of a mentor or guardian of the party. Seeing the tough stance of the Sangh, the second-tier leaders of the Advani camp, who would oppose Gadkari on every step also gave in and threw the towel. It is because of the Sangh’s role and strict stance on the same that during a meeting in New Delhi on Friday, which was attended by all office bearers of the party, it was almost unanimously decided that Gadkari be given a second term. Like it had been reported in this column, the necessary amendment in the party’s constitution will take place during the party’s working committee meeting on May 24-25.