Uttar Pradesh has become Rahul Gandhi’s one-point focus. An entire team of his is active in the UP scene. This paid thinktank gets a neat sum as salaries because it comprises of those with an engineering degree from IIT or a management diploma from a premier management institute. Most of those have an average monthly salary between Rs 1-3 lakh. Their salaries come from the National Congress Committee. This team translates Rahul’s vision into a computerised image, so to say, and aids Rahul’s ambitions with timely surveys and sums it up with a report, which is nowadays approved by Rahul’s close aide Suman Dubey. But if there’s a slightest mistake, Rahul brings everybody to task.

Some time ago when this very column first talked about how a coterie at the Centre was keeping an eye on the Sangh Parivar and was also taping their conversations nineteen to the dozen, some fox in sheep clothing at the centre and sponsored media cried foul till hoarse. But it is time the truth came out. From sources close to the CBI, government agencies are going all out to tighten the noose around the so-called Hindu terrorism. For this purpose, dozens of Sangh Parivar members were spied upon, their phones were tapped, and from the information that was gathered, at least four dozen Hindu leaders were questioned. The CBI had, in fact, taken notice right when these leaders had taken on Islamic terrorism saying, “We will not stay quiet. Every action has a reaction.” Sunil Joshi, who was recently killed, was on the CBI list to watch out and several crucial points were noted down. Only after that did the CBI team contact Indresh Kumar, a prominent leader of the Sangh. Another prominent Sangh leader is on the Sangh’s radar. India’s National Security Advisor is himself keeping a keen watch on the proceedings, which also means that as many as 35-40 Hindu leaders may be arrested in the near future. The CBI plans to register cases against them in difference parts of India so that the voices of dissent do not get a chance to get together.

When the entire world is under the feverish effect of the FIFA World Cup, how can Congress’ successor Rahul Gandhi be left behind? With a few special friends, brother-in-law Robert Vadera, and ten-year-old nephew Reyaan, Rahul landed up in South Africa to witness the semi final between Spain and Germany. He thoroughly enjoyed the game and will return home only after the Uruguay-Germany match on Saturday and the finals between the Netherlands and Spain on Sunday. And will go back to his UP tours soon after. After all, he has to score big on the political charts.

When the crew members from Latvia and British David Bleach were in a prison in West Bengal, and the six of them were under trial, the then Home Minister L K Advani received a message from a high-profile Russian political leader that since the five Latvians had got Russian citizenship, they should be allowed to return to Russia. And what condition did Advani set to free them? We don’t know. All we know if that all five of them were released in July 2000. Then the British intelligence tries its tactics and asks India to free Peter Bleach since he is an officer with British intelligence. Then his plea is signed by the President and he too is released in February 2004. Kudos to those who rule this land, for they take such crucial decisions in a hurry and the countrymen don’t even get to know about it.

While it may be true that Mr Gadkari in his foolhardiness proclaimed Afzal Guru to be Congress’ son-in-law, but when BJP ruled the country and had groom L K Advani as the home minister, he made one terrible faux pas after another. No one has been able to figure out answers to those yet. Indeed, people must remember that on December 17, 1995, 4.5 tonnes arms and ammunition – which included numerous AK47s, rocket launchers and bullets — was dropped by a AN26 Russian aircraft in Purulia, West Bengal. N one knows what they were for, to this day. When our MIG 21 from the Indian Air Force forced the craft to land in Mumbai, it had five crew members from Latvia, British citizen Peter Bleach, and the mastermind was Kim Davey, alias Nails Christian Nelson. When our investigative agencies were busy questioning them in Mumbai, Kim Davey managed to flee to Kathmandu with his fake passport and a few hundred dollars. From there he flew away to Denmark. India found out about Kim Davey only after he was arrested in Copenhagen in April 2010. Then the home ministry spokesperson announced that Davey will be brought to India under the extradition treaty. But later the UPA government also kept mum about it. The secret that Davey had connections with a few Indian political leaders and the Underworld is for all to know now. The moot point is who would want to save Davey?

Remember the glorious days of M K Narayanan when he was the national security advisor (NSA)? He would report directly to the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi. He’d be in consultations with the chiefs of RAW and IB, and be in constant touch with the head of all three forces and get reports from them. But the new NSA is more of a nuclear scientific advisor, albeit he is also known as the nuclear expert. His only claim to fame is that he can talk to the American NSA and meet him whenever he wants.

To turn Amethi into a district was an idea given by the Congress itself. But behenji, aka Mayavati created a scandal out of it while there was time. The Congress wanted to name it Rajiv Nagar but Mayavati declared that there was enough named after Rajiv already. So, playing her dalit card she went on to name the district Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar. She’s also sent a signal to the Congress party that when it comes to political games, she’s no rookie.

When Mukesh Ambani and his wife Nita Ambani were flying in their private Boeing business jet-2, the weather suddenly became rough and the craft started to stumble when stuck in an air pocket. The Ambani couple was having their dinner but the turbulence was so much that Nita’s plate with food fell from her hands and dropped on her expensive clothes. Seeing her expensive clothes and plate in a sorry state, tears welled up in Nita’s eyes. Now how could the world’s fifth richest man watch his wife’s eyes filled with tears for no reason? So first he gave the pilot a piece of his mind and then called up Rosenthal, the international company known for its designer crockery and asked them if they could make crockery that would not overturn no matter how badly they were handled? Currently, the company has dedicated an entire team to making crockery that would not overturn no matter how much they were shaken. Now who would think of upsetting the world’s fifth richest man, especially when the question is about his better half?

While Nitish’s arrogance is just not giving way, the BJP seems to be under some sort of obligation that it is ready to dance to any tune from the Bihar chief minister. Could the reason be that a few big politicians in the BJP have a personal profit-sharing relationship with Nitish? During the recent Modi issue, the saffron party could be seen divided into two camps. Those anti-Modi BJP leaders sitting in Delhi were harping on just one thing – no matter what, the Nitish-BJP coalition should not fall through. This group included the likes of Advani, Sushma and Jaitley. But like a new convert attends Mass every Sunday, Nitish could go to any extent to live up to his secular image. Nitish recently had his favoured newspaper group conduct a survey, whose finding revealed that if Nitish was to contest the elections without the BJP coalition, his party might actually win with even more seats. There is a possibility that both the survey and the findings might have been funded, but what about Nitish’s intentions? Sources close to Nitish have revealed that he might bid adieu to the coalition one-and-a-half months before the Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections. Till that time, he will have succeeded in brining down the reputation of the BJP government via Modi. They may have difference of opinion, but there is one similarity – both of them are nurturing ambitions of sitting on the prime minister’s chair. When the aims are so lofty, limitations and code of conduct usually become secondary issues.

Unlike his usual starategy, this time when Centre Home Minister P Chidambaram was going to Pakistan, he personally called up TV channels and newspaper offices to inform that if they wanted, they could send a reporter from the office with him. When she learnt about this, a miffed Nirupama Rao went straight to S M Krishna and spoke about her reservation in a rather straightforward manner. Krishna instructed Rao to tell this to the prime minister herself, since there was little Krishna could do about this. When Rao informed about Chidambaram’s invitation to the prime minister, he took a middle path and suggested to Rao to call up the editors and inform them that the home minister’s tour was not so crucial journalists need to accompany him. However, all this was in vain since Chidambaram landed in Pakistan with a big band of journalists.