India’s richest Indian Mukesh Ambani not only knows the power of media, he also knows how to use it. So, now he has decided that his media empire will be run by a trust. Names of several big journalists of the country were considered for the post of the managing trustee (the list includes Shekhar Gupta of “Indian Express”). But Ambani senior and his advisors have roughly zeroed in on the name of Fareeid Zakaria. Fareed is the foreign editor for the world’s biggest news magazine NewsWeek. He lives in the US and his interference with US administration can be seen. A blue print has also been designed on how the trust will manage the media operation. Ambani is dividing his media empire into two – news and entertainment. The trust will possibly have seven trustees who will assist the managing trustee in running the trust efficiently.

The formal chief minister of Maharashtra and a current Central minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh’s condition continues to be critical. He is being treated at a famous hospital in Chennai. His elder son Amit Deshmukh was in Delhi a few days ago and has met the prime minister and Sonia Gandhi. Sources reveal that he is suffering from cancer of the liver and things have gone so bad that he will need a liver transplant. But it is vital to get permission from the Tamil Nadu government for the same. The prime minister himself spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for the same and it is believed that the necessary permission from the state government has been granted. If Deshmukh’s condition stabilises a bit, the liver transplant can be done.

Uddhav Thackeray recovered and came home and found out that his father is seriously ill. Sources reveal that Thackeray senior is suffering from lung infection and his pancreas are also not functioning well. At a time when Raj and Uddhav was working on a setting a new example of making up, Thackeray senior’s falling ill like this could create a different problem within the party. The workers of Shiv Sena and MNS can’t decide how aggressive they need to be during such changed equations.

When Congress king-to-be Rahul Gandhi was coming back from Turin after spending a vacation with his maternal grandmother, the big drama in Indian politics concerning the Presidential elections began to unfold. Suddenly it was also decided that at 11 am on June 25, the Congress will hold a farewell meeting for Pranab babu. It was considered important for Rahul to be there at the meeting. In a hurry, Rahul boarded a Jet Airways flight from Milan to New Delhi and he reached the capital in the morning on June 25. He made a dash for the meeting straight from the airport. The silences on the road ahead reveal that it was important for the future prime minister to be there for the planning for the future President.

After purchasing London’s Grosvenor House hotel, which is known for its culture and rich heritage, it seems that Saharashri’s ambitions have reached new heights. Now he is trying to purchase New York’s famous Hotel Plaza. He is also looking at buying New York’s Marriott Hotel. A source close to Saharashri says that he is interested in acquiring everything that has a prospect, history and tradition. In the same strain, he has shown deep interest in the luxurious hotel in Delhi Taj Mansingh. It is worth mentioning here that the Taj Mansingh is owned by the NDMC, and it is merely leased it to the Taj Group to run. The 33-year lease is about to end soon.

Owner of five-star hotels in Delhi and Fariadabad, alleged arms dealer and a known face in Delhi’s political circles, Suresh Nanda hosted his birthday party in London’s most expensive hotel Dorchester last Friday. The party’s invitation said that the theme was “red and white”, symbolising fire and ice. A powerful BJP leader arrived in London especially for Nanda’s party. DLF’s K P Singh, Hinduja brothers and several big and small leaders of the BJP and the Congress were there at the party, and were seen enjoying London’s chilled fire and ice environment, away from the sweltering heat in Delhi.

Subramanium Swamy has written an explosive letter to the prime minister on November 24. The letter directly attacks Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her two sisters, Anushka and Nadia, in the 2G spectrum. Swamy alleges that each of the sisters got a bribe to the tune of Rs 18 crore. He has also raised questions about the sisters and their families’ trips to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Dubai, European countries and especially London. According to him, Sonia and her family travels up to Dubai in a scheduled flight but from there on it takes a chartered flight from a business group. According to the DGCA laws, this is illegal. Swamy has also written to the PM saying that it isn’t clear what passports do the family travel on?

The Government is preparing to tighten the noose the around the IPL king Lalit Modi who was recently seen smiling, talking to and getting himself photographed with many sexy beauties. Several cases of income tax and FERA are being made against him and Modi’s file is pending with the Union Finance Minister for his approval to start the
investigations. The matter is connected with the telecast rights of Modi’s Mauritius based company WSG. It is understood that Sony’s present head Kunaldas Gupta had in collusion with Modi duped Sony a great deal in the name of getting the telecast rights and WSG was given many big rights at very cheap rates and after this Gupta parted ways with Sony and formed his own company and on the sly became a business partner in Modi’s company. The game is big and so are the players. But Modi may have to pay some price for his Vasu connections. Simultaneously the owners of two big television companies are after Modi’s life. So the coming days could be really tough for Modi.

Congress knows that in Karnataka the field is still wide open for it and that the Reddy brothers who had sounded the bugle of rebellion against saffron Chief Minister Yeddyurappa were Congressmen at heart. So Ahmed Patel had called Jagan and handed him the reins of Operation Karnataka. Patel’s game plan is clear that Jagan should somehow split the Karnataka BJP through the middle and it is also not hidden from anyone that Jagan’s father Rajshekhar Reddy had played the most crucial role the establishment of the business empire of the Reddy brothers. He not only allowed the mining business of the Reddy brothers to thrive in the no man’s land between Andhra and Karnataka, but when need arose he also gave on lease hundreds of acres of land in Andhra for mining. And for this, he also got approved loans worth nearly 1,000 crore approved for the Reddy brothers from the banks. Jagan, who had paid merely Rs 2 lakh in tax last year, has this year joined the list of the top tax payers. In the matter of advance tax too Jagan has left everyone behind. So in a mere one year, where did the wealth worth Rs 78,000 crore come from. Perhaps this is something which Madam Gandhi is finding hard to chew. Or else what could have been the reason behind her putting political obstacles in the way of a 36-year-old becoming the Chief Minister?