Railways minister Suresh Prabhu is considered as one of the finest and most able ministers in the Modi government. But the performance of his ministry is casting a shadow on him now. This is the first time ever that the railway budget was merged into the main one and presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley, rather than the railways minister. The budget shows that the last fiscal had not gone well for the ministry. And despite the fact that Prabhu is both able as well as hard working, insiders say he relies much more on freelance economists and corporate advisers than railway officials themselves. Also, last year Prabhu’s ministry did not do too well, losing Rs 25,000 crore in passenger fares. There were also too many accidents and the income from commercial freight transaction – at Rs 45,000 crore – was less than that of the previous year. Prabhu is very active in the social media and hence has a youth following. It is easy enough to meet him too, as he is ready to listen to all. But now it is time that he does something to shore up his performance.

The first phase of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 11, which will decided the fates of 71 seats, will be keenly watched. It is going to be a tough fight. In the 2012 polls in these 71 seats, Samajwadi Party had won 22, but this time around it seems poised to lose about seven or eight of those. There is no schism in the dalit voters, who are united and firmly behind Bahujan Samaj Party. The higher castes seem to be more on the side of Bharatiya Janata Party, though the Congress will also eat into that bloc. The Jats are very much with Ajit Singh, the foreign educated son of Jat legend Chaudhary Charan Singh. The SP is banking on yadavs and Muslim vote banks. But the minds of the communities of backward and extremely backward castes are defying to be read as of now, and they will turn the fates of many candidates. Meanwhile, the ace is in the hands of the OBCs. Their might decide to vote seat by seat or case by case of the candidates, but they are the ones who can turn the table on many a hopeful.

The Congress and Samajwadi Party may have welded an election alliance, but this marriage of convenience has not merged the hearts of the ground level workers of the two parties. Congress workers gripe that though the SP has posted its party flags wherever their candidates are contesting from, the workers are not allowing the Congress flags, and yet, the SP is posting its flags firmly in all those seats where the Congress is contesting. The Congress workers have informed the high command about this. But to assuage their sentiments, SP has pointed out to the fact that AkhileshYadav and Rahul Gandhi have held joint rallies where the slogan is: “UP likes this alliance”.

Though Maywati and her BSP had tried to woo the Muslim voters by dishing out scores of tickets to them, it seems that in western UP, the Muslims are still very much with the SP. The party had given tickets to 97 Muslim candidates in the region controlled by BSP strongman and Mayawati’s close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqi. But the rumour is that the Muslim youth are complete fans of youth icon Akhilesh Yadav, hence the trouble for Maya.

The Jat voters of western UP are seriously annoyed with the BJP. They feel that they had been used by the BJP during the communal riots in the area a few years ago, and yet, when it came to their claims to their rights in Haryana, the same saffron party government answered with bullets, so the Jat voters seem ti be firmly with Ajit Singh. The Jats are also very upset that the BJP did not even consider making one of them the chief minister of Haryana. So whether Ajit’s candidate win or lose, the BJP will run dry in the Jat vote bank.

The stalwarts are stalling in Punjab, with the coming elections in sight. For example, the two mighty and weighty old warhorses, Captain Amrinder Singh and Prakash Singh Badal, both contesting from the same Lambi constituency, are staring at a bleak future. AAP’s Balbir Singh is giving the twain nightmares there. Similarly, Badal Junior, Sukhbir, is running from Jalalabad constituency, but the AAP candidate Bhagwant Singh is seen to be running him out. We had told you that AAP was not being allowed to even open an office in Majitha, but the situation has reversed. The sitting MLA is feeling the sting of AAP candidate. SAD’s Bikram Singh Majithia was thought of as an unbeatable candidate, but AAP’s Himmat Singh Shergil is a bête noire for the former. However, running on a Congress ticket, Navjot Singh Siddhu is seen as a clear winner from Amritsar and the good Captain, running on a second seat, is unbeatable in his former family fief of Patiala.

The race for the Vice President’s post is already hotting up, and till sometime ago, sources told us that the front runner was BJP biggie Venkaiah Naidu. But now it seems he has take his feet of the block and is no longer in the run. Naidu wants to remain a powerful minister in the Centre rather than rest well in 6, Maulana Azad Road. In his place, BJP is now pushing the envelope for Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao, currently the Governor of both Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. What will be more interesting is that after the UP elections, the fate of Rajya Sabha TV, or RSTV, which is headed, ex-officio, by the Vice President, will be watched closely. Insiders say that with the change in guard, RSTV will shortly play the role of RSS-TV!

Usually reliable sources tell us that Delhi’s top business tycoon had some time ago invited an all-powerful minister in the Modi cabinet for lunch. They tell us also that the lunch was a sumptuous affair. And over silverware the tycoon told the all-powerful: “We have always been supporters of BJP and are ready to help any time. In fact, we have spent heavily on the party. But sadly, every time, our family’s name is linked to that of the Gandhi family. We just have a family relationship with them, not a business relationship. So why don’t you explain this to PM saab and see that I get an appointment with him?” Smiling coyly, all-powerful said: “I know you own several malls in the capital, and you are aware that Modiji is very fond of designer suits. I suggest you first purchase some top class designer suits and present him with those. As for his measurements, call his Ahmadabad home. You will get them.” And with that, all-powerful left the mansion. So the hunt was on and after a week or so, tycoon had purchased a few dozen suits. Then he called up PM’s residence and sought an appointment. The man on the other side asked: “Why do you need the appointment?” Tycoon explained that he merely wanted to gift Modiji with some designer suits. The voice across the line shot back: “But why, it were people like you who used to say that Modiji changes his dress four or five times a day, that he is running a suit-boot ka sarkar. And now you want to gift him designer suits?” The line went dead. Clearly, all-powerful’s advice did not at all suit tycoon!

If AAP wins the Punjab polls, then the expected chief minister will be party heavyweight and sitting MP Bhagwant Mann. And Mann is driving the point in day in and day out, addressing raly after rally, and seems to be drawing the largest crowds everywhere. Indeed, the day-long heavy showers on January 26 drenched top politicians and even Rahul gandhi’s public meetings were called off. But not Mann’s. he kept addressing the public, who too responded enthusiastically, no matter they were drenched too!

Like Aurangzeb putting father Shah Jahan under a comfortable house arrest in Agra’s Lal Qila, it seems Mulayam Singh has been put into house arrest in Lucknow by son Akhilesh. The country’s biggest ‘Mulayam-ist’, Thakur Amar Singh is suffering severe pains for he is not able to meet dear friend Mulayam, no matter how much he tries. Akhilesh, it seems, is ensuring that Mulayam loses all contacts with the outside world. Even his old cell phone SIM has been changed so phone calls are going blank, birds in Lucknow tell us. They coo also that several times, Mulayam tried to hold a press conference, but each time he had to cancel it, under pressure. And Shivpal Yadav? ‘Uncle’ is also quiet and will remain so till January 31, fearing that if he throws a ruckus now, Akhilesh might cancel his ticket for the election. Is this lull in the SP camp the proverbial one before the storm? Let’s wait and watch!