Presidential elections have become a barometer of sorts to gauge the political equations in the state. It is believed that the ace lies with Trinamul’s Mamata Banerjee and whom the Congress is trying to appease in every way possible. Those close to Mamata were also indicating that Mamata has some doubts where Pranab Mukherjee is concerned. She has even acknowledged the fact in a covert way that in the past 11 months, she has met Pranab da 20 times, and the prime minister 10 times. It is clear that after assessing the state’s dismal financial situation, Mamata wants a big relief package from the Centre, to which the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has refused several times. So Mamata has clearly stated it to her confidantes that she will lend her support for the Presidential candidate who at least listens to her. Is Pranab da listening?

After the party unity and the cause of siding with dharma was blown to smithereens, BJP party members, Sushma, Yashwant, Jaswant and Ananth Kumar who just returned from Ranchi met in Advani’s room in the Parliament area to assess party’s choice Ahluwalia’s defeat at Rajya Sabha elections. Party leaders were miffed with a few senior leaders from their own party. On the other hand, the opposition camp was busy publicising that if these same leaders had not forced controversial NRI businessman Anshuman Mishra to take back his nomination, the seat would have gone to the BJP. It is believed that at that time Mishra had managed to get a majority for himself. It is also clear that Gadkari and a few Sangh members were like wing beneath the wings for Mishra when it came to his political ambitions. Passed out from Mahesh Yogi’s school and having been friends with Deepak Chopra, Anshuman got his political dreams in order from his real guru who teaches law at Denver, Colorado, in the US – Dr Ved Prakash Nanda. Nanda also heads the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh in America and has deep roots in the group. He has been in the group since the time of Rajju Bhaia and has a great rapport with Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. Thus, the professor has pushed Anshuman’s name directly with the Sangh head. Dr Dwivedi, who teaches at Harvard and stays for four months each in London, America and India, is also good friends with Mishra. Professor Dwivedi also has close ties with Sangh and it is believed that he also campaigned for Anshuman’s name. For now, Gadkari is still counting his gains from the loss in the Jharkhand episode.

A breakup with actress Preity Zinta took Nusli Wadia’s son Ness Wadia to a yoga ashram in Munger in Bihar. He was seen doing yoga and meditating regularly at the Bihar School of Yoga Ashram a few days ago. On the other hand, Preity headed for Harvard a few days before IPL 5 took off. He joined a summer programme at a business management at the college to understand the bigger picture and intricacies of a business. It is worth mentioning here that Ness had bought the Kings Eleven Punjab team for his then girlfriend Preity and is also a co-owner of the team. Both of them are still not agreeing about the ownership of the team. And ever since Rajiv Shukla, the current chairman of IPL, has been given the responsibility of settling the matter, Preity is overjoyed since she has a close friendship with him. After all, saiyan bhaye kotwal to fir dar kahe ka.

For a position in the International Court of Justice for Justice Dalbir Bhandari, not only did the Indian’s ambassador to the US push for his name but so did several other non-resident Indians all over the world. The surprising thing is that NRI businessman Angshuman Mishra, who has come into limelight because of the controversy of nomination to the Rajya Sabha from Jharkhand, was also in New York and gunning for Bhandari. It is worth mentioning here that Mishra has businesses in the US, too, and has several friends who are businessmen, politicians and diplomats. Not only was Angshuman moving around gathering support for Bhandari, but was also in constant touch with his friends in Indian media and was giving them a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings. Thus, the first SMS the Indian media got about Justice Bhandari’s victory was from Mishra, and it read like, “We won in the United Nations’ General Assembly and Security Council, Dalbir Bhandari is now the judge for ICJ.” Wish Mishra realised that rather than Ranchi, New York is a better place for him.

After the nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, woman industrialist Anu Aga and lovely actress Rekha, two posts are still vacant in the Upper House of the Parliament. One of these seats is to go to a scientist, and the second to a media person. Thus, Shobhana Bhartiya is trying with all her might for a second term, but her nomination may face stiff competition from Shekhar Gupta and Venkat Ram Reddy.

Swimming against the tide, BJP President Nitin Gadkari has made solid preparations for a second tenure for the post. Since last Friday, for the next three days, Sangh head Mohan Bhagwat was in the capital and the main reason for his trip was to get other BJP leaders get ready for Gadkari’s name as the president yet again. The Sangh has made its stance and intentions clear to the prominent leaders in the party. Only after that was it decided that on May 25, the party’s Working Committee Conference will be held and Gadkari will be chose as the party president. There is a likelihood that during the same conference it will be a change will made to the party’s constitution so that the national party president can stay in the post for three years.

Narendra Modi and Sharad Pawar are surprisingly united on one thing – that come what may, the export of cotton be allowed. And while both leaders are giving the reason as the rights of farmers, the reality is that the export of cotton has exceeded the target by one-and-a-half times. That too by one person to one country. This person is a Gujarati businessman Bhadresh Shah, who is close to both Pawar and Modi. And the country is China. The textile sector of India is worried that it may have to buy the yarn from China at a high price now.

In a discussion that happened in the Congress about the UP elections, Rahul clearly stated that he will fix the accountability of Congress leaders. Which means all those Congress ministers who held responsible positions during the UP elections might come under the scanner. During this process, Digvijay Singh may have to relinquish his post of being –n-charge, and a new state president for the party may be brought in in place of Rita Bahuguna Joshi. Shriprakash Jaiswal and Raj Babbar were in-charge of campaign committee and media committee, respectively. They are bound to lose their posts.

Winds of change are flowing over the Congress. The UP elections have taught Rahul Gandhi another lesson in politics. In Rahul’s old older ways of politics, two political specialists Zoya Hassan and Sudha Pai, had a lot of influence. Rahul would heed to their political advice. All the data would be collated and then fed into the computer and then analysed. Any grassroots level leaders who would want to place their point in front of Rahul were told to his office and put forward the point they wanted to discuss and that they should say in concise whatever they had to, to Rahul. Such leaders would barely get any time to meet such leaders and now Rahul is tracking them down and talking to them. Rahul has now started to place a lot of importance on Rajiv-Sonia advisors and is listening to what they have to say and heeding their suggestions. Rahul has already had a long conversation with Sonia’s political secretary Patel, and the discussions have lasted over three rounds. All in all, Rahul is changing himself to change the Congress.

A section of the Sangh Parivar still has some reservations about Advani. In a broad sense, the Sangh has made up its mind that for that for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it will support Narendra Modi as a prime ministerial candidate from the party. The Sangh wants to sugar-coat Modi’s Hindutva and development and present it as BJP’s next agenda. Sanjay Joshi has also got express instructions from the Sangh that he should clear his misunderstandings with Modi. The Sangh is also not in favour of giving importance to Modi’s opposition of Praveen Togadia and the Kisan Sangh. Somewhere along the line, Gadkari has also been clearly briefed that Modi will be the party’s face for 2014 elections.