The recent survey by the Congress that has happened keeping in mind the Delhi Assembly elections have left Sheila Dikshit overjoyed. The survey says Congress is set to get 39, the BJP 27, BSP 1, Aam Aadmi Party 1, and independent candidates are set to get two seats. As soon as the results came in, Sheila Dikshit went to meet Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi. Sonia wanted to know from Sheila if the Delhi Assembly elections should happen along with Lok Sabha elections. To this Sheila replied in the negative saying if they win Delhi, the cadre will be more confident about the Lok Sabha elections. And the junta was anyways extremely upset with the Central government’s policies.

Rajnath Singh’s brother-in-law from marriage (wife’s sister’s husband) Arun Singh wants to contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Mathura. That is why he is making frequent trips to the city. On the other hand, Narendra Modi wants Hema Malini to contest the elections from there. But Arun Singh’s candidacy has the support of another BJP heavy-weight Arun Jaitley’s support. It is believed that both these politicians meet once a week for either lunch or dinner. It is also said that Arun Singh has a big role to play in improved relations between Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh.

The JD-U and the Congress may not contest elections as a coalition in Bihar, but they are cooking up a political meal together. The Congress is going to do a favour to the JD-U. A top party leader of JD-U K C Tyagi, is to become the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ministry for Industry. The post was until now with DMK’s Shiva until now.

Main Opposition party BJP’s prompt action worked efficiently in Kishtwar happenings, and those supporting the separatist belief saw their plans being foiled. Otherwise, the efficiency with which the riots were planned, they were dreaming of getting the Hindus out of Kashmir. The same thing had happened during the riots in Kashmir in 2000, when a large number of Kashmiri Pandits were thrown out from their homes in the valley under a planned strategy. Sources reveal that a secret report has briefed how several ministers in Omar’s rule are in direct contact with the separatists and their entire plan is to remove Hindu families from the areas near the border. But the top leaders in the BJP got to know about it in time. As soon as he found out about it, Rajnath Singh spoke directly to the prime minister, Arun Jaitley went to Jammu, and Sushma Swaraj raised the issue in Parliament. Narendra Modi talked about the issue on public platforms in a big way. And thus, Hindustan just escaped becoming prey to a big conspiracy.

Where did the Congress’ star on the horizon Rahul Gandhi vanish after giving us an all new definition of poverty? Sources reveal that he has taken a flight away to London, the London where being rich is a mere “state of mind”, where money is worth worshipping and prosperity a sign on moksha.

BJP is working overtime to ensure the success of a rival outfit which was floated recently. Sounds unbelievable, but it’s true. Sources say that Delhi BJP leaders are indirectly funding the breakaway group of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – Bharatiya Aam Aadmi Parivaar (BAAP).

BAAP broke away from AAP last week, protesting against Kejriwal handing over tickets for Delhi assembly polls to candidates who owed allegiance to Congress, BSP and BJP till a little while ago. Headed by Kejriwal’s long time associate Rajnish Verma, BAAP’s grouse is that the bureaucrat-turned-politician ignored old associates while finalising AAP probables for 70 Delhi assembly seats.

BAAP sources say that five probables figuring in the first AAP list for 12 seats were directly linked to either BJP or Congress. Similarly, four leaders in the second list were earlier members of NCP and BSP.
For example, the entire family of Bhim Singh, AAP’s probable candidate from Seemapuri seat, is a die-hard Congress supporter. Same is the case with AAP’s probable candidate from the Kondli seat, Jaswant Singh, who joined the party a few months ago after he was denied Congress ticket in the last municipal polls. Similarly, Kishorilal Dhanak, AAP’s probable candidate from Trilokpuri, used to be BJP’s local vice-president till 2008.

But the million dollar question is: Why is BAAP important in BJP’s scheme of things. The answer is: It’s not without reason that the BJP is backing BAAP on the sly. An internal survey of the party conducted before the AAP split predicted 27 per cent vote share for Kejriwal’s outfit, delivering a body blow to BJP’s dreams of wresting power from Sheila Dikshit. Therefore, BJP is trying every trick in the book to reduce AAP’s vote by splitting it.
While AAP leaders accuse BJP of funding and strengthening BAAP to weaken the parent party, BAAP leaders maintain that they left because of Kejriwal’s “dictatorial” attitude.

AAP leaders privately justify choosing leaders who have been associated with other parties in the past, asserting that candidates’ winnability has to be the main criterion in an election. BAAP leaders say that this very argument defeats the purpose for which AAP was created.
If the AAP-BAAP conflict continues the way it is, BJP Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel will be the happiest person on the earth. For, denting Kejriwal’s vote is the only way to stop Sheila from winning a record fourth term.

It is said that no matter what, you can’t hide love. A bigmouth and prominent Congress leader is learning it the hard way. He has been a chief minister in a big state, and during his chief ministership, he fell for an Anglo Indian woman. This woman’s mother had been Indira Gandhi’s governess. Back when he was the chief minister, the Congress party leader knew that the lady in question was a married woman and couldn’t control his affection for the lady. He even nominated the lady in the Anglo Indian quota for the Vidhan Parishad; her husband was appointed as the state’s attorney general. In today’s times, the woman is now in her mid-life, and stays in Noida with her husband and daughter. Both husband and daughter practice law at the Supreme Court. The politician is still in touch with the lady and who’s to judge it if the husband and wife are all right with the arrangement. It is also believed that this politician has invested no less than Rs 100 crore in the companies of three top Indian industrialists.

IAS Officer Anita Singh from the 1990 batch has the maximum clout in Akhilesh Yadav’s raj. So much so that she persuades the CM from changing his decision. For instance, this March, Akhilesh passed an order to have one of his dear officials Sanjay Aggarwal appointed as his chief secretary. But Madam Anita Singh would have none of it and so the CM had to retract his order within 24 hours. Anita is considered to one of the closest and reliable officers to the SP supremo Mulayam Singh. She sits on the same room on the fifth floor of UP Secretariat where Shashank Shekhar, who was extremely dear to Mayawati, had his office. Akhilesh’s ministers have to wait for two hours to meet Madam Singh. And although officially Madam has to handle departments such as administration efficiency and infrastructure, unofficially it is mandatory to take her permission for all important files of the CM. That is because it is only through her that Mulayam is represented in the important decisions taken by Akhilesh’s government. And everyone in the UP government knows this by now.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad is contemplating to field his daughter Misa Bharati from Yadav-dominated Madhepura constituency as per his plan to teach his friend-turned-foe JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav a lesson. Sources close to Lalu say that neither the RJD chief nor his wife Rabri Devi are inclined to contest Lok Sabha elections in 2014. Instead, they want to pass on the baton to the next generation. So, while Misa – named because of her birth during the Emergency while Lalu was jailed under MISA (the now defunct Maintenance of Internal Security Act) – might be pitted from Madhepura, son Tejaswi Pratap might carry forward Lalu’s legacy in Saran. Lalu had defeated BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran in the last polls. Madhepura has over four lakh Yadav votes. “Rome Pope ka, Madhepura Gope ka (Rome belongs to the Pope and Madhepura to the Yadavs,” goes the saying about the north Bihar constituency. Incidentally, Sharad Yadav had defeated Lalu in the 1999 elections and Lalu wants to avenge that defeat.
Lalu wants a tie-up with the Congress and Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP on the pattern of 2004 Lok Sabha polls. He is prepared to give more seats to the Congress. In the 2009 elections, the Congress-RJD alliance snapped as Lalu had offered just a handful of seats to the Congress. This time, both Lalu and Rabri want to focus on electioneering and have decided to not contest the polls.

Who is running India’s tourism ministry? Is it Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi, or secretary in the ministry Parvez Diwan, who is a smart IAS officer from the Jammu-Kashmir cadre? Diwan was brought into the ministry by former Tourism Minister Subodhkant Sahay. Diwan is not only an efficient bureaucrat, but also a known astrologer. He had made several accurate predictions about minister Sahay in the past. He has also told Chiranjeevi that it is better for him to stay in Hyderabad rather than Delhi for his political career. Poor Mr Minister, now he is scared by the very name of Delhi and, thus, all decisions regarding the ministry are taken by the secretary.