Trinamool Congress MP and Mamata Didi’s personal handy boy in Delhi Derek O’Brien was a revered quiz master in his previous incarnation. Sometime back, he donned his quiz master gown once again, and threw a question at scribes covering Rajya Sabha: “Tell me, you see that plaque or A Anil Chandra on the front of the Sabha… so who will that be?” The flummoxed journos had no answer, so O’Brien gave them the answer: “It is Amit Shah!”

Not everything is hunky-dory between Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV), vice president Venkaiah Naidu and the CEO of Doordarshan Shashi Shekhar Vempati, who also happens to be the editor in chief of RS TV. This non-IAS officer wants a complete overhaul of the content and look-and-feel RS TV. This has ruffled Naidu’s feathers. Scuttlebutt is that Naidu wants his favourite Dr I V Subba Rao, a retired IAS officer currently serving the VP in his secretariat as the new editor-in-chief. Meanwhile the PMO itself has recently started jockeying for full control of RSTV. And this triangular contest is the reason that RSTV could not send its tem for coverage of the Gujarat polls. It had been decided earlier that the channel would send at least three to four camera teams for covering the polls. But the Sashi Shekhar-Rao tussle ensured that the teams could not finally go. And now the PMO is directly poaching on the channel.

Notwithstanding Rahul Gandhi’s bitter struggle against the Gujarati duo of Modi and Shah, Gujarati food has won his heart. He has been on a food extravaganza in Gujarat. When he reached Tarapore in Anand, he delighted himself on the famous dish of the plate, pav-bhaji, and that too having it in a street shop. When he tied up the last leg of the three-month Gujarat tour, the media at his press conference was served specially ordered Gujarati lunch from the famous shop of Ahmedabad, Swati Snacks. Rahul admitted to the press persons that during his entire tour of Kutch, he ate Khakra, achaar and peanuts. Everyone knows that Rahul has a sweet tooth and so does Mom Sonia Gandhi. So after testing shrikhand at a famous shop, he got some packed for Sonia as well as sister Priyanka. So despite all the bitterness of the heated campaign, Gujarati food is sitting pretty on Rahul’s mouth.

The results of the local body polls has given the chance to BSP supremo Mayawati to return from the political wilderness. Just recently she convened a meeting of the party coordinators at her residence, and insiders revealed that for once, she looked happy. First she showered praises on the coordinators, and then they were asked for suggestions for the future course, that is the 2019 polls. What emerged as a consensus is that wherever the party had fanned Muslim sentiments, it got slapped on its face, so now, Muslim candidates for the party will be limited to Western Uttar Pradesh. It will be trying to woo back the forward castes in Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Central UP. Behenji also made it absolutely clear that it will not be a part of any grand alliance in 2019, and would field candidates on its own from every Lok Sabha seat in the state. She admitted, of course, that Akhilesh had made several advances for her to join such a Grand Alliance, but she had made no commitment. Behenji also fired a different salvo: those politicians who are suffocating inside BJP are most free to join the BSP.

The Gujarat polls have taught the saffron-brothers Modi and Shah some vital lessons. They realise now that a large section of the state’s youth are angry with the BJP. This was evident in their unprecedented presence in the poll meetings of Rahul, Hardik, Alpesh and Jignesh. Hence, the poll magician Modi has decided against any adventurism in the 2019 general elections. It is anyone’s guess that Modi will now try to think up several new schemes for unemployed youth in the country. It is also possible that there will be some big announcements for the National Employment Policy, whose main task is to ensure employment for youth. To improve the financial and social lot of the youth, the government is mulling bringing in a National Employment Policy. May be the government will give various kinds of boosts to medium and small scale enterprises, for which accessing loans from financial institutions may be made easier. The employment agency has recently told the government in a report that 30 per cent youth in the 15-30 age group lack proper training, forcing them to opt for low-paying jobs. China is far ahead of India in this regard. So clearly, the next budget will not just be packed with election sops, but could be dripping with concern for youth.

Modi and Shah seem to share an addiction for elections. The storm over the Gujarat polls has barely settled down that Shah has readied his Team Karnataka for the coming polls there. Shah has told the top ministers of the party to start for Karnataka, where they are needed to stay for at least five days a week, so they will rarely be seen in the capital. In fact, Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman have reportedly told their senior officers that may not be able to work full time for their respective ministries very soon.

Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel had been desperately wanting her son Sanjay to be given the ticket for the Ghatloria Assembly seat for the ongoing polls. She had been furiously lobbying to meet BJP president Amit Shah during the distribution of tickets. But Shah had shut door on her face. Instead, he gave the ticket for the seat to a long-term Anandi baiter. Sources say that highly unhappy with this, she organised a lunch for nine top Patel community MLAs at her home. One hears that the deputy CM of Gujarat was also present among them. It was reportedly decided over lunch that, going against the party line, they would support any Patel candidate standing for election from any seat. One of the MLAs reportedly griped that the Patel community has been neglected under the BJP rule of 22 years. It was also said that all the creamy posts lay with the Jain community, including party president Shah and incumbent CM Rupani. It is learnt, however, that one turncoat from the lunch went and unloaded the entire discussion on Shah. Sources say that very night, Shah rushed to Anandiben’s home and tried to placate her. In his typical style, he said: “You had never asked for a ticket for your son or daughter. In fact, eight persons have already been given tickets from the list sent by you. It seems Anandiben has cooled down a bit. However, the Patels remain in full war gear, and don’t seem to be in any mood to listen to all this.

When in politics, stay off Modi. That’s the lesson from the way Modi has turned on the “neech” abuse by Congress motor mouth Mani Shankar Aiyar into an inferno for the Congress, putting it into an uneasy corner. On the other hand, the firebrand anti-Modi Congress leader, Manish Tewari seems to be saffronising himself. Earlier, he would not let any statement by Modi pass, without making mincemeat of it. But last heard, Tewari was on an Israel tour, courtesy the Vivekanand Foundation. And even political greenhorns know that the Foundation is a creation of Ajit Doval, Modi’s most trusted man. So is Manish putting a saffron hue?

There was a time when anyone from RSS in the Modi government could get their errands done without much ado. But times, as they say, ‘they are A-changin’. Now insiders say Modi’s entire focus is to improve on his government’s performance. This was clear when the Enforcement Directorate sleuths went to raid the home of a big trader, but then minister of state for finance, Arjun Meghwal stopped the raid by using his clout. When the news leaked to PM Modi, he summoned Meghwal and gave him an earful. Modi reportedly said that for his government, everyone was equal before the law. It is learnt that this triggered a decision and Meghwal was soon shown the door out of the finance ministry. No wonder then that even the Sangh mandarins in Nagpur have nowadays limited themselves to giving guidelines to the Modi government.

It was strange turn of events during the run-up to the recently concluded annual election to the Press Club of India. The panel floated by renowned journalist Badshah Sen and Jatin Lahiri took a massive kick from the Gautam Lahiri panel, which swept in. As things went by a sinister conspiracy has surfaced. Apparently a day before the polls, some 150-odd senior scribes were called up by a top Sanghi leader, who requested all of them to ensure the victory of the Badshah panel. Immediately, Sens, who was till then the anthem, became anathema to the largely Left inclining press corps and got the drubbing. When Sen’s men got to hear this, he called up the famous Sanghi leader and asked that since his panel has no connection at all with RSS, why did the latter make such calls? The man simply said, he really wanted Sen’s panel to win! Now Sen realises the root of the problem, especially since the panel that has won has shown a clear soft corner for the Sangh.