Has someone cast an evil eye on the ongoing dialogue for a poll alliance between Congress and Samajwadi Party (and yes, we are talking about Akhilesh’s, the official SP, not Mulayam’s anymore), or has the young CM become too flushed with self-confidence after the poll panel granted his faction the election symbol of the cycle? Not very long ago, Priyanka Gandhi had taken the reins of the alliance dialogue on the prompting of PK (Prashant Kishore) the master poll strategist. But suddenly, it transpires that Akhilesh had stopped taking calls from Rahul and even Priyanka. The SP started taming the Congress by giving tickets to its own candidates in those assembly seats where the Congress had won in the last elections in 2012. A worried Congress High Command asked the party’s UP in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad to intervene. When Azad called Professor Ram Gopal Yadav, the current godfather of Akhilesh, the latter said that since the CM is now also the National President of the SP, he has become too busy and so he could not take the call from Congress’ National Vice President Rahul Gandhi. The indication was clear: from now on he will only speak at the National President’s level, a la Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress is deeply disturbed by Professor Ram Gopal Yadav’s apparent handholding of BJP and tripping the former’s chances in the coming UP polls. But why? Samajwadi Party scuttlebutt is that the Professor and his son have both been named in the CBI chargesheet in the huge Noida land scam related to former city boss Yadav Singh. It is known that Ram Gopal is a nicker-buddy of Hemant Sharma, a senior scribe very close to BJP party boss Amit Shah. Sharma’s neighbours tell us that the good professor has been seen frequenting Sharma’s house of late, to ease the pressure on him and his son. Seems like Sharma is playing a pivotal role in enhancing the poll prospects of the saffron party in the polls, which the Congress now abhors.

Call it the ‘grandson bridge’. It is learnt that the barely 10-year-old Arjun, grandson of SP boss Mulayam Singh and son of ‘prodigal son’ Akhilesh, has played the turning point in getting father (Mulayam) and son (Akhilesh) to kiss and make it up yet again. Family sources say Mulayam cannot breathe easy without his obsession, Arjun, and so the latter insisted on Daddu getting back to Papa. It is learnt that after the rapprochement, Mulayam had a huge and hearty meal of his favourite dish of pumpkin, arvi, or taro root, and potatoes!

The AamAadmi Party has declared its undying commitment to eradicate corruption from politics at any cost, so much so, that it says it will not even ask for government security cover for its elected legislators after the Punjab polls. It may be recalled that just before the Delhi state polls, which the AAP swept with its election symbol jharu, which happens to symbolie of sweeping away corruption, the party had said the same thing, but look at its MLAs now! They have official bungalows, cars and the ultimate levels of official security. The question is, will the aamelectorate of ‘land of five rivers’ be able to trust this party and put the ink on their left indexes after voting AAP to power?

The Aam Aadmi Party is cruising along fine in the Punjab state polls that are coming up. It has not just opened its party office in the constituencies of incumbent state CM Prakash Singh Badal (Laambi) and that of his son Sukhbir Badal (Jalalabad), the APP candidates are indeed faring very well. But, there is one state assembly constituency where the party has not even found a rented accommodation to open its party office and that is Majitha, the constituency of the Badal family relative Bikram Singh Majithia. Such is Majithia’s terror in Majitha that the AAP has not even been able to kick off its poll campaign. And how can it, since it does not even have a party office there!

There is a famous TV journalist who is very close to finance minister Arun Jaitley. It is learned that recently, over a cuppa, when the two were just alone, the scribe asked him, “Tell me, did you have any prior intimation of the currency ban decision?” Jaitley, already somewhat embarrassed with his being kept away from the decision till the last moment, sidestepped the question and went on taking about the weather, so to say. But the insistent scribe again asked him: “So, did you at all know about the currency ban?” Jaitley had found his answer by now and said with a feeble smile on his lips: “If you read the notification carefully, you will see that it had been signed by me.” Was jaitley always like this with friends?

Modi, the blabber, quiet? Do not misread this as passivity. For sources reveal that he is working on some mega schemes to ensure the return to power of the BJP, past 2019. Amongst these schemes, Modi’s favourite is the Universal Basic Income one, which he thinks is the hottest sop for BJP to ride back to power on. This scheme is aimed to give a basic minimum monthly income to every individual in the country. Strategists are working on the amount that meets the basic need of individuals.
Work is on with a pilot project running in a panchayat in Madhya Pradesh, where every individual is being paid Rs 500 per month. This seems to have worked, as the lives of those individuals have improved.
Party sources insist that several such schemes are in the bag in scheming Modi’s poll plans, which includes, apart from the basic income one, also a pension for the aged. And what proves the substance of these schemes is that Aam Aadmi Party has also jumped into the fray with such a scheme, for in its Goa poll plan, AAP has said that if it comes to power, it will ensure a minimum of Rs 3,500 per month for every Goan.

In the current political screenplay, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has not only jettisoned son Akhilesh, but it is learned that three of his truest lieutenants, who were his virtual shadow for the past three decades, have deserted him. Of the three, Jagjeevan and SRS Yadav had served Mulayam as private secretary for the past 30 years. And the third person is Personal Security Officer Shiv kumar. The latter has been seen in every single photograph as the man standing just behind Mulayam. Insiders reveal that the moment son Akhilesh raised the banner of revolt, Shiv kumar chose to be seen standing guard right behind the prodigal son in his upcoming photographs.

Samajwadi Party boss Mulayam Singh is so distressed with his first son AkhileshYadav that he is going public, practically, on the latter’s emotional atyachar. So much so that he bared his heart to outsiders. This, he did in front of a top Congress leader who had gone to meet him with a critical message from Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka. Netaji lamented that Akhilesh has not taken any lesson from him, especially on how to retain his important followers by his side. Sources say that injured by Akhilesh, Mulayam repeatedly took to praising his brother, Shivpal Yadav’s son Aditya. “Look at Aditya,” Mulayam said. “What fantastic English he speaks. Why, his English is even better than most Englishmen’s. Akhilesh should learn English from Aditya. He is invited by people abroad to give lectures in English. I tell you, he has just returned from Switzerland after giving a lecture.”
Now, now, Netaji! You are so gullible!Do you realise what Switzerland is associated with in the Indian context?

Loudmouth tele-scribe Arnab Goswami of “the Nation Wants to Know” bellowing is slated to launch his new ‘independent’ news channel Republic on Republic Day, January 26, though he said recently “We shall launch when we are ready.” Birds are singing that the largest investor in the channel is BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Rajeev Chandrasekhar (Rs 30 crore); and ARG Outlier, Arnab’s company that owns Republic, has a huge investment of Rs 26 crore in the name of wife Samyabrata Ray Goswami. Arnab has made the investment from SARG Holdings Private Limited. But Chandrasekhar is not the only big guy in the company, for apart from him, there are 14 other big investors behind the Republic!