When the matter came to the government, a Cabinet meeting was underway. After the meeting, five people stayed back to talk about the matter – the prime minister, Chidambaram, Pranab Mukherjee, A K Anthony and Salman Khurshid. Pranab was of the opinion that it is no use complicating the matter further, and so he should be asked to retire in 2012 itself. To which the PM said that if he retires in 2012, a Sikh will become the army chief, and people will point fingers at him. To which Chidambaram said that in that case, the next person in the line should succeed the post. To which the PM said that the next person is a Marathi and the move will incite anger against him among the Sikh community that he helped J J Singh but not a Jat Sikh. These top five leaders could not come to a collective decision and as a result, the matter is still waiting in the wings.

Army Chief V K Singh’s birth certificate is in the news yet again. When he joined the NDA in 1965, he was younger than the admission criteria according to his 1951 birthdate, because of which his father probably got it changed to 1950 on paper. He raised the question of his age himself. Singh was born in the army hospital when his father was in Pune there and the birth certificate is from there. When he raised the question of his birth date, the government agreed that the date would be at 1950 and he too had agreed to it. When he was made the army chief, the government assumed that he would retire on May 31, 2012. Now the problem is that if he retires in 2012, the next army chief would be Bikram Singh, who is a Jat Singh. And if his birth date is taken at 1951, he will retire in 2013, and his post will be taken by Lieutenant General K T Parnaik, Northern Army Commander Maharashtra.

The BJP chief minister of Chhattisgarh Raman Singh, was until now, only being blamed for favouring his own. BJP President Nitin Gadkari conducted an opinion poll in Chhattisgarh and it is giving the party sleepless nights. The survey says that if elections take place in the current scenario, the BJP may see the verdict going against them. According to the survey, if the elections take place at present, the Congress may come out the winner with 55 seats. Under Raman Singh’s lead, the BJP will have to be content with 26 seats. In the popularity race, too, the saffron chief minister Raman Singh has slipped to the fourth position. Charandas Mahant stood first, then Vidyacharan Shukla, Ajit Jogi in the third place, and then Raman Singh. Is it time to write Raman’s farewell song?

The Congress is seeming confident in the five state elections. It is confident that it will fare much better in Uttarakhand and Punjab. The Congress’ hopes have lifted because of their coalition with Ajit Singh and Muslim reservation. Now the party feels that on its own, it can win nothing less than 50 seats. Ajit may also get close 20 seats and Mulayam Singh nearly 130. Which means Mulayam, Congress and Ajit Singh may, together, manage a majority this time.

Going through several political upheavals, the Congress’ dependence on its “crisis management group” continues to grow. Alienated in the government and the party, P Chidambaram, is also a part of this group. Other members of this group includes Kapil Sibal, Ambica Soni, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Salman Khurshid and Pavan Bansal. This ministerial group makes the final strategy for coping with the Opposition’s moves. Important decisions are taken by this group in room number nine in a meeting that takes place around one. Sometimes when this group does not meet in room number nine, it collects in Ambica Soni’s room. This is probably one of the reasons Ambica Soni and Kapil Sibal are often seen together in the PIB room.

With her political acumen, Sushma Swaraj has managed to win over the hearts of Opposition parties, the Left parties included. It was this Opposition leader’s capability that the Opposition parties’ unity remained. The Communist parties wanted to debate about the rising food inflation and about the FDI later; Sushma agreed. She chose Thursday as the say to debate food inflation and Monday as the day to debate FDI in retail. The Opposition leader had decided that come what may, a no-confidence motion should not be passed in the Parliament, even if the government was in minority. Sushma knew well enough that if there is voting on FDI, Mamata will not support them. The BSP and SP will strike a deal and the Communist parties are politically forced to not support the motion if the BJP introduced it. So, Madam Swaraj had decided that if there is a strength test, the picture will be clear even in the Adjournment Motion.

Prominent astrologers of India are worried about the future of Manmohan Singh government. Several of them have predicted a change of guard in April 2012. It’s the shukra dasha for the Centre at present. Starting February, Rahu will join the dasha. Gradually, this change in stars’ position will cause major upheavals. During the turbulent times of V P Singh and Chandashekhar’s government, was the same position of the stars. So, astrologers are predicting the farewell of Manmohan Singh government by April 2012. It will be interesting to see if the new Nizam Rahul Gandhi gets the reins of power in his hands.

Until when can you postpone the inevitable? And how long will P Chidambaram be safe from the Opposition’s attacks? The Opposition is boycotting him in the Parliament, and a certain Swamy is going all out talking against him. There are two witnesses against him in the court, and several secrets are buried deep inside the 2G scam, all of which can decide Chidambaram’s future. He is fighting the battle of his life. He is being supported in this fight by two big English dailies. A prominent south Indian English Delhi is also going all out to glorify him. As a lawyer, he also has a good network in the judiciary. A corporate lawyer, he has also been the finance minister, and so he shares a good camaraderie with a lot of people from the corporate world. Despite all this, it will not be easy for PC to come out unscathed because the Opposition is all aggression in its attack on him.

Instead of the usual love and affection Mamata had for Pranab da is now replaced with anger. Didi is really cut up with Dada, so upset, in fact, that she doesn’t even want to consider Pranab da as a minister from West Bengal! She feels that as a finance minister, he is giving a step-motherly treatment to Bengal and overlooking what Bengal really needs. If she could have her way, she would ask Sonia and Manmohan to take him off the Cabinet; that is also the reason didi is going so strict on the FDI.

Rahul Gandhi is not becoming strict with the Parliamentarians and minister of Uttar Pradesh. He has let his displeasure known to the party members, too. Rahul’s actual worry is that the leaders of the state get into action only when he visits the state, the entire team of Parliamentarians and ministers follows him, but the minute the Yuvraj comes back to Delhi, they too settle down in the capital. So now he has set a district duty for all of them. Rahul is in his own zone and the Assembly elections in the state are like a litmus test for him and is leaving no stone unturned. Rahul’s anger is somewhere placed on the Central government and its head, too. Rahul feels that at a time when the UP elections are round the corner, how can the Central government kick up the dust on issues that look anti-public on face value? So he is a little cut up with the Central government and Manmohan Singh as well.