“The atmosphere today is so suffocating, that even the lamps that are lit ask, “When will the wind blow?”” The common man asking for relief while food inflation only increases – now the price of petroleum products has gone up. And while the Opposition Party BJP is too busy sorting its own house, the Congress seems to be take advantage of the people’s suffering. The ruling party is still hungover from the party for the 40th birthday of its king-to-be. And as it is, the successor to the party has never really liked celebrating occasions in India. So when Rahul Gandhi boarded the Virgin flight VA 301 on June 17, it was a planned vacation. His birthday party in London was attended by his mother Sonia and sister Priyanka with children in tow. Sonia arrived in London a day before Rahul’s birthday and left a day after the celebration. Priyanka stayed on for a week and Rahul is yet to return from this land of fantasy to the hard realities of India. Rahul is the shining star of the Congress party and the Congress-nourished India has a lot of hopes from him. Indeed, these paper boats of fantasy will serve him well in times of floods, which will result from the unwiped tears of the poor and downtrodden.

Mamata Banerjee is going off track in the political corridors, thanks to her trains. The Vidhan Sabha state elections are supposed to take place in West Bengal next February and for Mamata, the state politics is far more important than the Railways portfolio. Thus, she wants that one state minister be appointed for the Railway Ministry from Trinamul Congress, one who will be able to take care of the ministry while she’s busy campaigning in Bengal. She had come with the suggestion of State Health Minister Dinesh Trivedi, but the Congress leaders rejected the plea saying it hasn’t’ been a tradition in coalition parties where both the state and the Cabinet ministries are held by the same party.

The buzz about a reshuffle at the Cabinet level is getting louder, and there is a probability of it happening before the monsoon session of the Parliament commences. There are signs of Ajay Maken and G K Vasan returning back to the Congress fold. Ajay might become the spokesperson for the Delhi constituency and Vasan might head the Tamil Nadu Congress. While some minister might be dropped, a few fresh faces may be seen, too. B K Handique might get a new portfolio, one that takes him down a few notches. Farookh Abdulla’s displeasure with his portfolio is common news and he is bent upon wanting to change it to either Kashmir affairs or Tourism; the matter might settle for the Tourism portfolio. That’s because the UPA government has made it clear to him that there is no way he is getting the Kashmir affairs portfolio and Abdullah might have to please himself with Tourism. The state post under Foreign Ministry S M Krishna is vacant, one that was once occupied by Shashi Tharoor. Jyotiraje Scindia and Sachina Pilot are said to be hankering for it and one of the two might get it.

Terrible memories from the Bhopal gas tragedy will always hurt like thorns in the side, however for the national leaders, it is nothing but an ordinary incident. That is why the then Prime Minister (now late) Rajiv Gandhi, on June 11, 1985, worked towards the release of his childhood buddy Aadil Sheheryar as a goodwill gesture. The surprise and shock of it all is that this happened to one who had been convicted in the American court for 35 years, and took place a mere six months and four days after the release of Warren Anderson, who was held responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy. (Anderson has been released by the Indian government on a bail of mere Rs 25,000). The then ruling American President Ronald Reagan had explained as much to Gandhi through signs and gestures that this is how the game should be played: “You scratch my back and I will scratch yours.” Could it be any clearer that Sheheryar had been released in lieu of Anderson? And later Gandhi brought back Sheheryar in a special government aircraft. Sheheryar’s father Mohd Yunus was one of the closest friends of the Nehru-Gandhi clan. Mrs Indira Gandhi had even appointed him as the government roam-around ambassador as well as the chairman of the Trade Authority of India. Yunus’ son Shehryar has tried to swindle funds in a fire insurance case – trying to get compensation without a fire at all. And what about the tragic fire of destruction in Bhopal that wiped out thousands of human beings and what about a compensation for them.

Once this gentleman used to praise Joshi with all his heart. Ever since Gadkari’s reign started, he also managed to get close to Gadkari. In the BJP-ruled States, earlier too all his works would take place with ease and so is the case now. No Chief Minister of a BJP-ruled States dares to utter a word. His father was a Colonel in the Army, now he stays in the United States. The gentleman himself stays in Mumbai where he is at such loggerheads with his wife that the matters have reached the stage of a divorce. So he is quite tense these days, sometimes he goes wayward and even starts speaking about pouring acid into BJP’s roots and he cried aloud and declares that now the time has come that BJP be disbanded and the Hindu Mahasabha be revived. This outcry of his has reached the party people and now they are all asking in the same voice – `Now, what will happen to you, Kalia?’ `Sir, I have eaten your salt.’ `You’ve eaten much more, tell us about that too.’ Once this gentleman used to praise Joshi with all his heart. Ever since Gadkari’s reign started, he also managed to get close to Gadkari. In the BJP-ruled States, earlier too all his works would take place with ease and so is the case now. No Chief Minister of a BJP-ruled States dares to utter a word. His father was a Colonel in the Army, now he stays in the United States. The gentleman himself
stays in Mumbai where he is at such loggerheads with his wife that the matters have reached the stage of a divorce. So he is quite tense these days, sometimes he goes wayward and even starts speaking about
pouring acid into BJP’s roots and he cried aloud and declares that now the time has come that BJP be disbanded and the Hindu Mahasabha be revived. This outcry of his has reached the party people and now they are all asking in the same voice – `Now, what will happen to you, Kalia?’ `Sir, I have eaten your salt.’ `You’ve eaten much more, tell us about that too.’

In the game of the Commonwealth, there is nothing common about the wealth. It is at the directions of a select few that the preparations are going on. Obviously, a few big political players are involved in this game. The committee which decides the `last minute contractor award’ or any work of temporary nature which is given to a company is run solely by Suresh Kalmadi, Bhanot and their secretary Koda. Recently the tenders which have been invited for an ordinary job also contain the condition that only those companies can take part in the bidding which have experience of supply items for the Olympics. It was a condition which immediately meant that all Indian companies were barred from bidding because from could they have got the experience of the Olympics? Of the four companies which qualified for this, one was of Spain and another was of Hongkong. Interestingly, this Hongkong company is represented by a senior BJP leader in India who enjoys as much reach in the Congress. His image may be controversial in BJP but he has got a clean chit in the Congress. Sources till us that ideally this entire job should not be worth more than Rs xxx crore, but the adept hands in the game of check mate have so laid out their pieces that this bid could go up to Rs. XXX crore. For the office, the commercial space that is being taken on rent for just two months is costing about five times more than the market rent. The rate at which the tables and chairs are being taken on rent is such that even if they were bought, it would have cost the committee less than half of the amount. The issue is big, so is the money and the related politics. So at whom can the poor people raise their finger, they are all naked in the pool.

The Congress is busy in the preparations of reducing one of its own Cabinet Ministers in the UPA Government from a king to a pauper. This entire Congress effort is being backed by a prominent industrialist of the country whose telecom brand flies high in the sky. This industrial house wants that either Manmohan should show the door to A. Raja or his portfolio be changed. In the political circles and media too the news of Raja’s departure or at least he change of his department is being planted with subtlety. The Prime Minister has provided more wings to these possibilities by staying that the investigation in this matter has been handed over to the CBI. If reliable sources are to be believed then in the Raja case, the CBI is soon going to say that in this entire matter at the first sight a prima facie case is made out. In the days to come, UPA constituent DMK and its minister A. Raja
could face difficulties. Is the man with the dark glasses listening to all this?

It was at the eleventh hour that Corporation leader Vijender Gupta won the race for the post of president of Delhi BJP because at one point of time it appeared that he had lost out to Ram Kishen Singhal in the race. It is being said that in a meeting of senior leaders of the party, Singhal’s name had been approved with consensus and after that Sushma Swaraj, who was heading this campaign, went out of station. After this Gupta ran to seek Jaitley’s support and Jaitley took Gupta to Gadkari, where in the presence of Ananth Kumar the name of Singhal was cut and that of Gupta was pushed ahead. Since Jaitley had already got the approval from Advani for Gupta’s name, so the opposition from most of the BJP legislators in Delhi went in vain since they were not agreeable to Gupta’s name at any cost. Even otherwise the president owes a lot of Jaitley for the 1500 crore talk and so he could not muster the courage to ignore his demand.

The temperature in Delhi is constantly rising and therefore the flight of the big ruling and opposition leaders from the Capital is
constantly on. UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra (and their children) are going to Shimla for vacations. Rahul is going abroad and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is going to Madrid in Spain. And the poor populace is sweating it out on the streets of Delhi.

Prime Minister has hosted a big dinner on the first anniversary of UPA-II. The absence of NCP president Sharad Pawar from that dinner is going to be felt by all. It is not due to Pawar’s annoyance with any issue that he is not participating in the dinner. Actually Pawar is these days enjoying a vacation with his bosom friend Vijay Mallya in south France. Representing Pawar in the Prime Minister’s dinner would be Praful Patel, who as it is gets elated on finding the company of 10 Janpath and Congress.