It is an open secret now. The sad fact is open that Chief Minister Narain Dutt Tiwari of Uttaranchal is very sick indeed. But the brave man that he is, he always tries to put on a brave front. Because of his sickness, he has been avoiding attending the Uttaranchal Vidhan Sabha sessions to escape the oppressive strain it could cause to his frail health. But the tallest of the Uttaranchal leaders has not been able to keep himself totally away from his beloved public. He has managed to gather all his energy and strength to make some crucial public appearances at functions he considers of prime public interest. The outsiders are of course impressed and have great sympathy for their beloved chief minister. But the insiders, in the true tradition of the ruling parties, have already got involved in a succession war of their own making. The two ruthless contenders are Sat Pal Ji Maharaj, the spiritualist-turned-politicist and Harish Rawat, who thinks that he is the natural political successor as a Congressman and politician. But then, there is an important woman on the power path, waiting in the wings, that is, Indira Hridesh, the rising new shakti of Uttaranchal Congress politics. Will the cat walk away with the crown while the monkeys continue to brawl and snarl over it, if and when the time comes? Congress workers in the young State are waiting, watching and wondering in disgust over the political power-mongering of their leaders.

Why is the Uttar Pradesh super-queen, Mayawati, on the warpath more aggressively than ever and spitting more fire than any other Chief Minister in India? Why has she taken on Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh and, for that matter, all leaders of all parties in the State who dare to raise even a little finger of defiance against her? Well, well, her avatar as the "Ambedkarite Shakti" has something to do with her special agenda to fight "Manuvadi" and male and upper-caste ridden politics in India with every known trick in the book of Chanakya. But the timing is crucial. She is about to complete one year as the most reported, most opposed and most supported, most loved and most hated chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Like her or dislike her, you just cannot ignore her and live in peace in Uttar Pradesh today. But what about tomorrow? She is supposed to hand over the sceptre and crown to the BJP, as was the original agreed agenda of power sharing between Maya and the friendly party of Manus. But will she do that easily, without conditions and without making it clear that her successors do not undo the things she has done, of course by undoing many things which her predecessors had done? Nobody can answer this question, not even the largest horde of ministers she has collected in her ever expanding cabinet. One has just to wait, watch and wonder. The future's not ours to see. Whatever will be will be.

Getting into the Rajya Sabha, with his personal and corporate charm was just the beginning for liquor baron and boss of several corporates, Vijay Mallya. Then he partied and lobbied into deeper politics by becoming Vice President of the JD(U). But now he seems to be on the path of working politics indeed. Responding to that very newsy President of the Janata Party, the Professor from Harvard, Subramaniam Swamy, to join him and bring all the Janata factions back into the fold of the mother Janata Party, he has decided to move over and accept the working president's post in the Janata Party. Now is the challenge for him to bag and bring back to the Janata fold all those who can be brought in through various means. Well, those in politics know what various means are. Look at Mayawati's BSP, it has already become a mother of all kinds of ministers if not of all the political parties on the power-path. How will Janata Inc. work under its new working president? Will he set a trend on how to run political parties as a successful corporate, with all their skills of mergers and takeovers?

Suddenly, the Maharashtra Shiv Sena master, Bala Saheb Thackerey, has hit the headlines again by wailing that Maharashtra is under the back-breaking burden of unemployment. He has begun to unleash his wrath against the "outsiders" who come to Maharashtra and take up jobs leaving the Maharashtrians to face the burden of unemployment. Is his reference to political unemployment or economic unemployment? Who knows? Thackerey might be feeling that his own Uday is, if not totally unemployed, at least underemployed, because of the Sharads and Shindes who hold the reins of power in Maharashtra. It is difficult to call them outsiders. The best thing perhaps is to hit their vote banks. The Keralites, the Gujaratis, the Sindhis, the Marwaris et al. But they have brought in a lot of capital and skills with them over the years and made their contribution to the growth of Mumbai and Maharashtra. Of course, like George Bush's invasion of Iraq, if his aim to start a "Mulki Movement" to get rid of the regime he does not like, is the prime mover for his intended war on "outsiders" it is in keeping with his character and understandable. But then, what would happen to Maharashtrians in plum jobs and corporate positions outside? Will he order them all to come home? And what about those who had visions of establishing and have established Shiv Sena branches in other parts of the country? They are certainly Shiv Sainiks but not Maharashtrians. The great Shivaji's dream was to unite India into one big, great country. What is the dream of one who swears by the great Chathrapati ? Only he himself can spell it out.