Talking about IPL, how can one not mention Lalit Modi, who is still in London with his band of bandicoots? The foreign ministry actively tried for Lalit to be extradited back to India but his file is stuck in the enforcement director’s office for now. It is being said that help to Modi came from Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit’s close relative (sister’s son), who has a lot of clout in the ED’s office. But how long will be survive?

Niira Radia has come undone in front of the ED. According to sources, she has confesses on spending as much as Rs 167 crore on the media to find favour for some of her corporate clients. This includes buying an apartment in Manhattan for a prominent woman journalist from a TV news channel and given Rs 2 crore 20 lakh to a big journalist with one of the national dailies. She also has records of giving favours in cash and kind to several other significant journalists.

Shashi Tharoor was also present at this one-day Congress get-together. But at this AICC session, he looked less like a delegate and more like an excited TV reporter. His attention and focus was always on his Blackberry, on which he was constantly Tweeting. There’s freedom songs being played, “Saare jahan se acchha”, “vande matram”, and now some bhajan by Gandhi. Now Sonia ji is ready to speak, now she’s speaking…. Means political wheeling dealing may prove to be heavy for him, but Tharoor just won’t stay quiet.

In a quest to do something new, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, lauded as the next big thing, is churning out nothing but old stuff. He was there to enjoy a boxing match at the Commonwealth Games recently. His hair was noticeably so short as if there have been assaulted by the political tangles. Any which way, he seems to be bent on copying his grandmother Indira Gandhi is all ways possible. In her times, Indira too equated Sangh and Jamat-e-Islami as similar. Rahul, too, compares the Sangh Parivar with Simi. Indira too never liked long hair. Thus, the short hair sported by Priyanka and Rahul seemed to be inspired by her.

Current Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal completed his three years in Delhi. A hunt for his successor is on. Niraj Kumar of the 76 batch is doing some aggressive lobbying. He’s trying to get closer to the home ministry, home secretary and the PMO. The only thing that is going slightly against him is that he is close to the BJP lobby, especially Shatrughn Sinha. B K Gupta of 75 batch is current the DG of Tihar Prison and is strongly putting his case forward. Ajay Chaddha of 77 batch is also considered an able officer. Dadwal has shown his desire to step down after three years, and after the Commonwealth Games. But his ambitions are still strong and he is waiting for a good position. If sources close to him are to be believed, he is vying for a post in the CBI.

In the quest to change the party image and face, Nitin Gadkari commits several language faux pas. Take for instance the recently concluded media workshop of the party. The entire workshop was organized to tell the party spokesperson and post-holders be told how they should control their language in front of the media. When the party president got up to speak, he pointed to some of his own senior party members and said, “I am not scared of anyone. I will fix the one who doesn’t listen to me.” Mr President, kindly remember Kabir Das, whose couplets are as relevant as ever: “Meri boli purabi, moko lahkhey no koy/ moko to wahi lakhay, jo dhur purab ka hoye.”

After the Parliament session got over, Opposition leader Sushma Swaraj not only spoke about the Opposition’s achievements in the session in an interesting speech, but also invited the journalists with a delicious vegetarian menu that was full of variety. Usually, BJP’s lunch and dinner usually leave a lot to be desired when it comes to variety. But this time was different – there were several paneer dishes, koftas, alu-choley, jalebi-rabri and so on. Maybe the party is keen on a change of flavour where political tastes are concerned.

Mulayam seems to be slightly upset with the Congress nowadays. Congress politicians had assured Netaji that if he and his party support the Nuclear Energy Bill, when the Bill is introduced, it will be sent to the Parliamentary Committee (energy), which is headed by Netaji. But when the time came to introduce the Bill, the governing party sent it to Science and Technology Committee, headed by Subbarami Reddy. Mulayam feels cheated right now, but then how could the Congress have trusted his committee with something like this deal.

A few days ago, a senior Cabinet minister made himself at home in Karnataka. The minister is said to be close to 10, Janpath. This minister met up the Reddy brothers at a certain north Indian Mr Sharma’s home and told them that if they join the Congress, and work towards bringing down the BJP government, he will personally escort them to meet the Congress High Command. Also, there could be possible taking back of the petition filed by the ex minister in Bellary, which has asked for the disqualification of Sriramlu and the Reddy brothers. The work will cost a neat fees. But the ball is still in the Reddy brother’s court, who might be giving the proposition more than a thought.

It has been claimed in the IB report that in the Bihar Assembly election this time Nitish Kumar could once again be in a position to
form the government and even if JD(U) were to leave BJP at the last moment, the Muslim vote could en bloc go to Nitish.