At a public meeting in Satna, the Raj (Thackeray) inside Shivraj came alive and he made comments against those Bihari labourers who have been toiling hard in his state. What to say of Shivraj, when it comes to getting the MPs elected from his State he seeks the support of leaders of other States, or the responsibility of narrating the tale of woes of the locals is of the leaders from outside, and the poor hardworking Biharis who through every drop of their sweat are making your image shine have all of a sudden become aliens. And Mr Chief Minister who has been soiling his hands and dreams with sand stolen from the holy Narmada pains has also raised the issue at a time when the elections are on in Jharkhand and when then Assembly elections in Bihar are just a year away. Or every attempt is being made to put salt in the roots of BJP. But is this not a pre-meditated move to help the Congress. It would be better if the Sangh leaders do not try to cover up this act of their old swayamsevak.

Before his visit to Egypt, Rahul had an important meeting with the owners-editors of several prominent newspapers. There was a special reason behind this meeting, the young Rahul wanted to know the views of the editors on issues such as India’s relations with its neighbours, the explosive situation in Afganistan and river links. N. Ram of The Hindu reached Delhi from Chennai and Avik Sarkar of The Telegraph came from Kolkata. Venkat Raju of Asian Age, Vineet Jain of The Times of India and Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express were all there. Since Shobana Bhartiay of the Hindustan Times was not in the country then, so she could not come.

Next is what? For the Congress, the victory in the assembly elections could mean that it is time to put some loud thinking into action. For a while now, a section of Congress leaders has been veering towards a go-it-alone, or, as some say, “Ekla chalo re” position. At the Panchmarhi session in 1998, the party had expressly rejected the coalition dharma, but political exigency dictated a different path. That may change now, especially since no less than Rahul Gandhi himself is said to be pushing for a new mantra to expand the party base. The ‘attitude’ is already in evidence from the patronizing manner in which the Haryana Janhit Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Trinamul Congress are being dealt with. Down South, where equations need to be reworked badly, Rahul’s meeting with Rajnikant is said to be on the anvil. In fact, the CBI raid and the muddying of waters over the dealings of DMK’s A Raja on the day the election results were out apparently have much to do with the subterranean shifts in Congress politics. Perhaps only time will tell if the Congress is going too fast, too soon.

These days Minsiter of Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath has become very possessive about his ministry, particularly taking the experience from his predecessor’s regime on how badly they managed media at that time. Kamal Nath, a seasoned politician doesn’t want to repeat the mistake again. He might have lost the Commerce Ministry but wants to prove himself in his current portfolio. He has instructed all the officers not to talk to media. That means Kamal Nath will single handedly tackle the media in the way he likes.

These days China is a major concern for India . Although the union govt is trying to downplay China ’s recent aggression, but the opposition especially BJP has got the opportunity to play the China card again. They even demanded an all party meeting from the Prime Minister immediately. But the principal opposition party is not sure whether the PM will ultimately call that meeting or not. And it has logic, maybe different. One senior leader said, “When the govt calls all party meeting on China , inevitably ‘chinese’ come to take part in the meeting”. How? No prize for guessing. The BJP leader actually meant this for Left parties, who all along remained silent on the whole Chinese controversy and sometimes they are also alleged to be China ’s ‘agent’

Ahmed Patel has come out with a new formula in these Assembly elections that he should not treat the party rebels as enemy. Patel believes that in the 1993 elections, it were the Congress rebels who had given power to the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition. So this time if a strong Congress rebel is standing opposite NCP, the Congress is supporting him fully from inside this time. And this is an open game and the Congress has also made it clear to NCP that if on some seat a strong NCP rebel – who can win the poll – is standing against the Congress candidate, then NCP should also support it. Or either way, Patel stands to win.

BJP ruled Karnataka’s Chief Minister B.S.Yedyurappa is in a makeover mode nowadays. He has launched a massive program for the party’s ministers, MLAs and MPs for better learning. He is sending them to abroad, inviting senior politicians from Delhi to teach them administration and even sending them to Narendra Modi to get the experience of governance from him. Even at the age of 66, he is doing physical workouts regularly to remain active. He has sent farmers to China to learn agrarian system. Amongst the BJP Chief Ministers he is lesser known to the media in national perspective. He is trying hard to change that perception.

The Congress may be feeling jittery over the outcome of the Maharashtra assembly elections, but many of its supporters are totally mystified by the party’s game plan in the state. First, there was the unexplained puzzle of choosing AK Antony, of all people, to take charge of the party’s affairs in such a tricky state. Antony is not known to be an assertive man. His interaction with lower- and middle-rung leaders in Maharashtra is limited. As if this were not enough, the AICC then decided to get Chaudhary Birendra Singh to head the state screening committee. This was another bizarre appointment, given that Singh is more concerned about his fate in the upcoming Haryana assembly polls, where he takes on Om Prakash Chautala, than about the tidings in the western state. In any case, even if the Congress is in a position to form government, it would probably have to join hands with the NCP. In which case, there would be more headaches over the choice of a chief minister. Battle lines are already being drawn between Sharad Pawar’s daughter, Supriya Sule, and his nephew, Ajit Pawar.

In all apprehensions even in Congress circle, son of President Pratibha Patil, Rajendra Shekhawat is going to lose the election. Seeing the controversy over his nomination no big leaders from Congress high command campaigned for him. Even Rahul Gandhi preferred to campaign at the constituency adjacent to Amravati but avoided Shekhawat’s campaign. It clearly shows that despite giving the nomination high command chose to make distance. Now it is learnt that actually Congress leaders from Maharashtra like Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh were more eager to nominate Rajendra Shekhawat so that high command sanctions the candidatures of their children. Deshmukh’s son Amit and Shinde’s daughter Pranati also secured their ticket on behest of their fathers.

There was an Iftar party thrown by BJP’s muslim leader Shahnawaz Hussain. All the top leaders starting including Lal Krishna Advani attended the party. And the same day the BJP top leadership fixed the central election committee meeting at noon scheduled to start at 2 p.m. But BJP sources said, Shahnawaz requested party President Rajnath Singh to postpone this meeting for an hour so that party can show a gesture to the prominent Muslim face of the so-called Hindu party. Naturally Rajnath had nothing to say and accordingly the meeting was postponed.