The Congress is not going to let go of Shanti bhushan lightly. His taped conversation with Amar Singh is only the start of things – the main course remains. Several other matters associated with him will come to light. Any the Congress anyways doesn’t consider him a non-political person because in 1980, the founding year of the party, he was the vice-president of the saffron party and was also the law minister with the Janata Party government. Apart from this, his son Prashant Bhushan has his own house in Palampur in Himachal Pradesh. This calls for investigation on how a non-Himachali person has managed to buy property in the state. The conversation that has been leaked is merely one minute and 55 seconds but it is being said that the government has more conversations, which will be released timely. If sources are to be believed, the government has an entire dossier against Shanti bhushan.

“… Kitni sadiyon ka qatl hota hai ek lamhe ki badgumani se…” Has the US realized that Manmohan Singh won’t do anymore and so just like Musharraf, there’s a need to remove Singh, too. Was it a mere coincidence that the NGOs supporting Anna Hazare are funded by the West? All the TV channels that were trying to outdo each other with the movement have some American tag or the other attached to them – CNN, Fox, Reuters, or someone else. Are there plans to organize a rally at Kashmir’s Lal Chowk? Does the US have the same views about Kashmir that it did about Serbia? No matter how much a free Kashmir benefits the US agenda, India’s united and sovereign image is sure to take a beating. Sonia is not on the American focus from any angle, but will a mere change in prime ministership be the end of our woes?

Sonia Gandhi was in Kerala campaigning for elections, where she had to campaign for Congress coalition (UDF coalition). At one such rally, Vayalar Ravi and Ramesh Chennithalla was also present. Sonia got all excited and said, “Please vote for LDF (CPM coalition),” the leaders on the dias smiled thinking it was a mere slip of tongue but when she said the same thing again, their faces changed colour.

Heading the PAC, Murli Manohar Joshi clearly knew his rights and priviledges and has no intentions of calling people such as Ratan Tata, Neera Radia and Anil Ambani for interrogation. But like we say, “Chor ki daadhi mein tinka”, these three and several others wrote letters to the PAC saying they wanted to clear their stand on the whole thing. What more could have Joshi asked for – he instantly called for them, knowing well that the rights of PAC are limited to the suits filed by the CAG on the 2G scam.

On a parting note, Praful Patel has made sure Air India is run to the ground. Now the current Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi is bringing out all the issues out. And it is a critical question as to how Emirates, Air Asia and Gulf Air get such significant golden routes in India? According to sources, there was a close confidante of the former minister who got all the deals finalized. The office of Air Asia is in his office space and the distribution rights of Emirates are also with the same person. Emirates’ low fare “Flight Dubai” has also started from Chandigarh and several new routes are also being given. It is being said that the worth of all this is in crores and the payoff is said to be $20 per seat. This same person has several duty-free shops at IGI Airport. And what’s in a name, when his name has already been called out by BJP’s Prakash Javdekar in the Rajya Sabha.

At a time when the entire country was glued to the World Cup, BJP realized that singing political tones may sound music to too many people. But now the World Cup fever is on the decline. So this issue may become a hot topic that how did the government and the BCCI forget to invite Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj at the dinner hosted in honour of Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Geelani? This is a common protocol that whenever a foreign prime minister visits India and a meal is organized in his honour, the leader of Opposition is always invited. It was probably the cricket diplomacy, or the Congress’ or the country’s. Apart from Rahul and Sonia, even Robert had been invited for the same. Shashank Manohar and Rajeev Shukla were in their element. Was it the Congress’ reply to the Opposition’s behaviour in the Lok Sabha? A million dollar question, we say.

Chidambaram is extremely upset with the PMO’s initiative towards Pakistan. So, instead of being in Mohali on Wednesday, he went to Chennai, citing elections. Pranab Mukherjee is also said to be unhappy about it and he, too, took a flight to Guwahati. And because Geelani’s entourage also included the country’s home minister, protocol demanded that Chidambaram too be there. But PC wanted to make his annoyance public and went to Chennai. The group of politicians who had come with Geelani were from different parties. Contrary to PC, the PM’s advice was, “Ours is a large country, so we should forget the petty differences and show large heartedness by meeting our neighbours.” The foreign ministry was kept in the dark about this, Geelani’s invitation had also been extended from the PMO and S M Krishna not liking it was justified. But Manmohan couldn’t care less since he has memories of Pakistan. He was also happy that Geelani had got with him only politicians and no bureaucrats. So there was no one to keep a record of the conversations and take notes. Geelani, too, spoke to his heart’s content and Manmohan Singh already has an open heart.

Before India and Pakistan dinner diplomacy could get better, an unfortunate incident occurred at the Indian embassy in Islamabad. The same day, a car entered the restricted area of the embassy and the driver of the car was detained for interrogation. As a reply, Pakistan instantly arrested the Indian embassy’s senior counselor without deciding a reason. Now efforts are on to calm down the situation. The Indian embassy says we have released your driver, so you too should release our man. You need to see what kind of an environment prevails for this new relationship.

Politics is a strange game of snakes and ladders but now it can be seen playing out in the Parliament, too. The ruling party has somehow managed to make the government run by allowing the formation of the JPC, when a snake bit hard just when the government party was at 99. Both ruling and Opposition parties are down to the lowest rung – at 2. But the Opposition parties are of one opinion that no matter what ruckus is kicked up in the Parliament regarding the Wikileaks, the Budget will be passed next month in April, or how will government officials get their salaries? But does that mean that the entire tamasha on Wikileaks will continue and will the Parliament continue to be adjourned?

Recently in the news for his wedding, Varun Gandhi will not be available for the campaigning for the party in Assam. The party has let it known to the party high command. When Gadkari had made his team he had made Varun the party national secretary as well as the election in-charge in Assam. Varun had immersed himself in party work in the state for the past few months, but when it came to party tickets in the state, Gadkari aides not only sabotaged the party agenda but also took away all the tickets. Varun had recommended some people on his behalf, but the party didn’t give them tickets. The local arm of the BJP in Assam has alleged that the party has been sold off to the AGP. While the party has pitted the names of its weak members against the prominent AGP leaders, the AGP is helping out BJP with just three seats. As a mark of protest, Assam party vice-president Rajan Gohain has given his resignation. Varun is now concentrating on the UP rallies.