Nirmala Sitharaman has been traversing the political distance quietly but with measured steps. As soon as she was asked to resign she reached the top leadership and with folded hands expressed her gratitude saying politely – “I am really grateful to you for having given me an opportunity to work with you. Being part of your cabinet was the proudest moment of my life. I will always remain thankful to you for this”. Then she rushed to party chief Amit Shah and repeated more or less similar lines. She also told Shah that she was ready to work in the organisation and she did not need any post for this. And if there was no work for her in the party she would like to go back to her village and spend some quality time with her husband.”
That sealed the deal in her favour. The top leadership always want such humble volunteers who are always committed to the leadership without even a trace of arrogance.

Rahul Gandhi is a changed man ever since his stepped foot in the USA. He has regained his lost confidence and also a new insight. Ruling party is going to get some measure of the new Rahul in coming days. The first example may be seen in appointments of chairpersons of standing committees of Rajya Sabha. For example, BJP wants To handover chairmanship of law and Justice panel to its new ally AIADMK instead of its rightful owner, the Congress. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anant Kumar has spoken in vain about this to the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad. Now Anand Kumar wants to speak to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul but so far has not received any positive indications from any of the two. Rahul wants to instil a fighting spirit in the Congress. But before that, he will have to take up politics as a full-time profession.

Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot’s name too was there in the list of party leaders like Milind Deora and Shashi Tharoor accompanying Rahul Gandhi to US. But, he backed out at the last moment citing urgent business back home. When Rahul himself spoke to Sachin, latter told him about the impending Lok Sabha by-election for Ajmer which fell vacant due to Sanwar Mal Jat’s death. Besides, farmers’ agitation too is going on in Sikar and Shekhawati areas. He also told Rahul that he had already activated all his contacts in the US and passed them on to Rahul’s core team. Rahul jokingly told Sachin, “No doubt you are doing a good job. But, don’t forget that path to Rajasthan passes through Delhi only’.

BJP’s top leadership is not happy with Bihar’s deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Source confide that BJP chief Amit Shah was not in favour of Modi being included in the cabinet this time. Sushil Modi learning of Shah’s mood, dialed his contacts in the RSS. The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat is believed to have mediated in the dispute and got a favourable decision for Sushil. This infuriated Shah so that that he offered to resign from party chief’s post and indicated that he was ready to join the government. He was eyeing Home Ministry for he has already been in charge of Home in Gujarat. Rajnath was offered Defence Ministry. Unwilling to move from Home, Rajnath too rushed to Mohan Bhagwat. He told Bhagwat, changing his Ministry at this juncture, would be construed as due to his poor performance. If he had to be removed, he would prefer to return to the party organization. Bhagwat intervened to save Rajnath’s skin. That is why, the meeting of four biggies at Rajnath’s home before the reshuffle, was a stormy affair.

JD(U) and BJP relations aren’t as warm as before. BJP this time is an equal partner in the government. Nitish has been consulting BJP in every major decision taken by him. Otherwise, he used to simply inform them after taking a crucial decision. Sushil Modi too has reduced himself to being Nitish’s lackey. But, tide has turned this time. Amit Shah doesn’t trust Sushil Modi any more. He feels Sushil has been preferring his interests over party’s. That is why most of decisions are being taken at BJP’s central headquarter in Delhi. Amit Shah convened a meeting of party’s Bihar core committee and instructed them in no uncertain terms that they don’t have to soften towards Nitish. Shah is also working on conducting Assembly elections there before schedule. Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are supposed to go to polls in October-November next year. BJP wants to have Lok Sabha and Bihar Assembly polls too with these state polls. If it doesn’t seem possible then even these state polls may be deferred to coincide with Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi might be gearing up for his coronation, but his acceptance within Siddaramaiah his own party seem to be still under a cloud. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah is learnt to have sent message to party chieftains in Delhi that his presence was not needed during state Assembly elections due later this year. They would like him to tour the state as few times as possible. They are also citing example of Punjab where Captain Amarinder Singh had indicated that Rahul was not welcome to campaign during Assembly polls there.

Navneet Sehgal has been one bureaucrat whose writ used to run both in Mayawati as well as Akhilesh Yadav government. He is known to have lavishly fed media on state exchequer. Last week Sehgal’s father’s book was released in Delhi. He has already written two books on Ramayana. The occasion also marked end of Hemant Sharma’s exile as he was also present in the function. He was also cynosure of all eyes.

Dera Sachcha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim might be behind bars loudly asking himself, “Mainu ki kitta (What’s my fault?) But the fact is Gurmeet had tried to vitiate the atmosphere in 2007 itself. He had planned to travel on a white horse with a hawk perched on his shoulder from Sirsa Ashram to Amritsar while donning a white dress a la tenth Sikh guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh.
He had already purchased a white horse at an exorbitant price and the hawk had been trained for months to sit quietly on Gurmeet’s shoulder. He had already a dress stitched a white dress just like the one adorned by Guru Gobind Singh ji. He even got several pictures clicked in this dress which was leaked to the media creating a furore. The Yatra was about to start when a senior police officer tipped out Ram Rahim that he might be attacked during the journey and his life might be in danger. The Guru Ghantal immediately cancelled the yatra averting a big crisis.

15 years ago when a letter written by some sadhvis detailing Gurmeet’s activities landed at the PMO, the centre was being run by the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. Shiromani Akali Dal too was a partner in this government. As soon as Akalis got wind of the letter, they pressurized Vajpayee for a CBI inquiry into sordid allegations contained in the letter. Akalis had an axe to grind against Gurmeet Ram Rahim for having hurt their feelings on Guru Gobind Singh episode. Vajpayee compiled to ensure an impartial inquiry. After several convoluted turns, the case ultimately reached its logical end last week.

The Modi-Shah duo is known for their micro-management. Living up to their image when the two leaders took a class of BJP MPs after the end of Monsoon session of the Parliament, their emphasis was on how MPs should propagate their work through social media. Modi said it was abounded duty of the elected representatives to take government’s welfare schemes to the people. It was, therefore, necessary for them to have downloaded apps like ‘MyGov.in’ or Modi app on their mobiles. Thus they could act as a bridge between the Centre and the people. There is a special feature in Modi app called My Network. This idea basically emanated from Apple CEO Tim Cook who had passed it on to Modi during his India visit. This app works well on both iOS and Android.
My Network is basically Modi’s private universe where he communicates directly with people joining the app. There are different groups formed by Modi of his followers. Some members can also chat privately with Modi and there is no word limit too here like Twitter. Followers and fans are given reward points. One getting more than 5000 points get an orange tick and a badge of “super fan”. Union Energy and Coal Minister Piyush Goel has already pocketed this badge. People getting 2000 points are called ‘I know it all’ and those with 1000 points have to contend with ‘the explorer’ badge.