There is talk about making Congress Secretary Avniash Pandey state in-charge instead of Digvijay Singh. The names of RPN Singh and Irfan are doing the rounds for the state president’s post. Irfan is Rashid Masood’s nephew and Rahul is a great fan of his working style and oratorical skills. So Rahul wants, as an experiment, to make Irfan the president of the party in the state. This will also send positive signals to the Muslims in the state. But the members of the party in Uttar Pradesh are opposing Irfan’s name for the state president’s post. They feel it has been only a little while since the man has joined the party.

When several big officials in UP were transferred on a big scale, Greater Noida’s be-all Rama Raman not being transferred anywhere came as a surprise to many. Although it is believed that during Mayawati’s tenure, in Noida and Greater Noida alone, the extent of corruption was more than Rs 5400 crore! Sources close to SP reveal that Rama Raman has become like a public witness for the SP government and is digging out every file relating to corruption and handing it over to the SOP government, and whose connections lead to Mayawati in one way or another. Maybe that is why Akhilesh is patting Raman on the back.

The anti-corruption cell in the PMO is going through a lot these days. Sick and tired of corruption, the public is resorting to the RTI and getting cases out. In the past few days, the PMO has got more than 250 complaints against several central ministers and several significant members in the government. The problem the PMO is facing is that it doesn’t know what to do about the central ministers who are wading deep in corruption and usually turn a deaf ear to even the prime minister’s suggestions. The PMO is also dreading that ruling by the Supreme Court that says that if the complaint is not heard within four months of being registered, the person can approach the Supreme Court for relief. Clearly then, for the UPA-2 government, these everyday incidents and reports about corruption are becoming a big headache.

The Central minister who played up the matter of two army companies moving closer to Delhi and presented it in a big way has been identified. He is not only a prominent member in the Manmohan Singh government, but is also a big contender for the prime minister’s post from the Congress. Ten Janpath is also merciful towards him. Who after Manmohan Singh? This question constantly keeps him in competition and comparison with A K Anthony. So, this time in order to ride ahead of Anthony’s reputation, this Mr Minister fanned the news fire. He had planned that the minute the matter becomes big news, the Opposition will ask for Anthony’s resignation and the defence minister will get a lot of bad press everywhere and will also fall in the eyes of 10, Janpath. He will emerge as a weak and incapable minister. At a time when there is a war of sorts going on between the Army Chief and the government, the suspicious eyes will zero-in on the Army Chief and this Central Minister thought long and hard about it before assisting the national media about the news.

At last, the much-publicised Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand got postponed. That’s because this time, cattle stock was ruling the roost in the political arena and there was an open play of money. Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s favoured one was R K Agarwal, who is the president of the Chamber of Commerce there and a cattle stock from Kolkata Pawan Dhoot was also in the fray. NRI Angshuman Mishra had been brought in by the BJP President Nitin Gadkari himself, but who took back his name under party’s opposition. Hemant Soren brought in Sandeep Kumar. It is heard that at the time of election, each candidate’s rate had gone up to Rs three-and-a-half crore!

The case of the sticker bomb on the car of an Israeli embassy’s officer’s car is heating up it’s a case of snake and mongoose for India. Israel has expressed worry that about the eight Iranians suspected in the blast case that was supplied to India and a red corner notice had been released for them, have run away to Tehran. How did they manage this, even though they did not have an emigration clearance? They are eight bachelors, all students. The journalist who has been arrested in the case did not have a major role to play in the blast. Naturally, the entire episode has impacted India-Israel relations. We have got a lot of assistance from Israel in the fields of security, intelligence and technology. For instance, the US didn’t show interest in sharing intelligence and technological know-how about aircraft such as the Drona, that didn’t need humans. But Israel easily shared the information with India. But the UPA government in the centre doesn’t want that the Iranians suspects to get punished on its soil. Because then they run the danger of upsetting the Muslims. Indian intelligence agencies had a big role to play in getting the suspects to Tehran.

Despite several attempts by Mukesh Ambani, Viren J Shah’s son Rajesh Shah was unable to get a seat to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra. Elder brother Ambani had personally called up prominent BJP leaders and talked in favour of Rajesh Shah. Shah is also close to the Advani family but Advani could not manage to convince the party about Shah and Gadkari was successful in getting his man Ajay Sancheti for the seat. Sancheti is working on several power projects and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has a soft corner for him. Babu Singh Kushwaha’s opposition lead to the eclipsing of hopes for Kirit Somaiya.

With a special aim, this time’s Budget has included backdate tax in the Finance Bill. The aim: Vodafone’s old debt. The issue is about a debt of nothing less than Rs 11,000 crore, where the company has escaped in the prelims, and the UPA government was the stock of jokes. Under this scheme, Vodafone owes 30 per cent of the debt. The company has already spent a fortune on its lawyers, and now the new tax slap.

Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureishi had emerged as a big contender for the vice-president’s post a few days ago. Also, all his major decisions and working technique have been in favour of the ruling government. But the way the Election Commission went all strict on Rahul Gandhi during the UP elections, Robert Vadra’s entourage was stopped is not going down well with the Gandhi family. It is also believed that for now, his name is also out of the vice-president’s post.

The SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is an expert when it comes to reading the mood of the public. That is why he got his younger brother Shivpal Yadav hold his years and do sit-ups at a public rally in Jaswant Nagar. Netaji knew the public is really angry with Shivpal and so he quickly told his younger brother to beg forgiveness from the public. But does Netaji remember his own mistakes in the past?