Look who's dining with RSS bigwigsThe night before results for the Lok Sabha polls were to be declared, the Prime Minister had some special guests. It had been a long time since RSS chief Rajendra Singh alias Rajju Bhaiyya and joint general secretary K.S. Sudarshan were last given an invitation to discuss matters over an informal dinner. It was a meeting of minds. The need to replace the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was unanimously expressed and the name of Murli Manohar Joshi as a suitable successor to Kalyan Singh was thrown up. Everybody rued that had Kalyan Singh been removed as per an earlier decision, things would have been different. Vajpayee uttered all the right noises: He told Rajju Bhaiyya that he would have loved to visit the Jhandewalan headquarters but for constraints of security.Ditching BellaryThere's saving grace for Sushma Swaraj. She'll be able to try her luck from Bellary again. Sonia Gandhi, in all probability, will be vacating the Lok Sabha seat. Since Amethi isthe Gandhi family domain, she has been advised to retain it. Moreover, Uttar Pradesh may go to polls to elect a new Assembly any time and the party leadership feels that Sonia must represent the state to launch another onslaught against the BJP. Priyanka will be campaigning with renewed vigour in other parts of the state instead of confining herself to the Sultanpur district. Though the Karnataka party leadership is pleading with her to retain Bellary, 10 Janpath has made it clear about who Sonia would prefer at the end of the day.Captains courageousThe two major political parties had no dearth of resources this election. Both were, however, heavily dependent on two non-political persons for the entire length of the 45-day high-flying campaign. If the BJP had an experienced pilot with Capt K. Malik, the Congress had veteran Captain Vijay Trehan.Both had the colossal task of finding suitable aircraft for star campaigners. Capt Trehan had the additional task of flying Sonia Gandhi. At the end ofit all, the BJP's high-flying campaign cost the party more than Rs 7.5 crore; the Congress bill for hiring flying machines was Rs 2 crore.Mission possibleGuess who was sent to the aid of Priyanka when the administration issued orders that nobody accompany her on the day of polling in Amethi on October 3? Rahul Gandhi and former CBI director R.C. Sharma. They were flown by a special aircraft on the night of October 2. They had hardly any place to stay overnight as Amethi had no hotels and the guest house where Priyanka was staying with husband Robert Vadra didn't have extra rooms. The SPG had a tough time finding a place for the two to sleep for the night. In the morning Rahul took charge of the Congress control room while Priyanka moved around the constituency. Her grit was laudable. Sharma was there every minute to advise the brother-sister duo on how to handle the police and the administration. At the end of the day, Sharma and Rahul returned to Delhi. But Priyanka stayed on till the last votewas counted in Amethi.The waiting gamePramod Mahajan has decided not to make a move in Maharashtra unless Shiv Sena's Bal Thackeray asks him to manage extra MLAs to form a government in the state. Though the BJP-SS are short of a majority even if the support of some independents is added to the tally, Mahajan is sitting pretty at his 7 Safdarjung Road residence. He cannot even open a dialogue with the Nationalist Congress Party leader, Sharad Pawar, without Thackeray's indication. A suo-moto move to woo Pawar can create misunderstanding. After all, Shiv Sena has a dozen-odd MPs needed by Vajpayee to form a government in Delhi. Mahajan would rather have Suresh Kalmadi splitting the NCP in Maharashtra so that another faction crosses over to the BJP-SS.
