After Laloo Prasad Yadav's RJD and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) had decided to contest for 37 of Bihar’s 40 seats and leave only 3 seats for its 9 year old ally Congress; the latter retaliated by announcing that it will contest for 37 out of the 40 seats itself. The alliance thus came down between these two parties. This will weaken Congress further.

After this Laloo Prasad Yadav announced that RJD-LJP alliance will take back the offer of letting Congress contest from the three seats as well. He rubbed it further by suggesting that in UP, Bihar and West Bengal there was really no presence of Congress. What it means is that Congress (as well as its main opponent) may consider themselves as "National" parties, but they are dependent on the regional players to stay alive in politics.

The feud got worse as Congress has decided to field Laloo's brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav as its candidate in Betiah Lok Sabha seat as he did not get the RJD ticket.

Laloo, however, did not burn all the bridges. He eulogized Sonia Gandhi and Dr. Singh and suggested that they are part of UPA and if they win, they will try and put Dr. Singh as the PM again.

In a recent opinion poll, it seems that this time it will be a hung parliament... where Congress led UPA will get 215 to 235 seats while BJP led NDA alliance will get between 165 to 185 seats. The poll was conducted by CSDS for CNN-IBN. Interestingly, it is predicted that the gains for Congress would come from the Hindu Upper Castes (8%), dominant peasant castes (7%) and the lower OBCs and Adivasis (5%)!

The political parties are "fishing" for a fight as the elections approach! Narender Modi was asked about the "youth icon" Rahul Gandhi from Congress. To which he replied:

'We are not small fish floating around in the comfort of aquariums, but we weather huge storms to win. 'We are not flowers cultivated by gardeners of the rich. We have grown up in the forests on our own, which young people are they talking about?'

A Public Interest Litigation was filed against Mulayam Singh Yadav to know into the alleged dispropotionate wealth of Yadav and his kins. The Supreme Court ordered a preliminary probe by CBI into the wealth of Yadav on March 1, 2007.

However, now, CBI is being asked by the Central Government to withdraw the probe. In order to withdraw the plea, the CBI communicated:

"Representations were received from respondents (Yadav & Co) and legal advice was sought. In view of the legal advice and directions of the Union of India, the interlocutory application filed by the CBI may be allowed to be withdrawn."

Sri Lanka has invited the Indian Foreign Minister to visit the country to "clarify" the humanitarian position for himself. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said that his government was maintaining a close relationship with India and shared a similar stand on the issue of terrorism.

Sheila Dixit - long serving Delhi's Chief Minister - says ahead of the Delhi elections that the Centre should hand over control of land and local Policing to the city Government. However, she feels that ending this "handicap" may not be feasible.

Dikshit says that full statehood, like the one enjoyed by other states, would not be feasible for Delhi as the union government also is present here and the ramifications are national.

Indian Central government has decided to not provide the Scheduled Caste status to kids of Christian and Muslim parents. If either parent is a Dalit - and that definition is restricted to Sikhs, Hindus, and Buddhists - then and only then, the Scheduled Caste status will apply.

One more thing that the Government is doing is to also overturn a Supreme Court ruling where it said that the SC status will flow only from a Dalit father and not a mother - since in Indian context that is how it happens. Government feels that the SC status should apply to kids who father or mother is a Dalit.

Some sections of leaders within Congress are now demanding that the party do something to avoid the Muslim backlash after the Jamia Nagar Shootout. Salman Khursheed, Digvijay SIngh, and Kapil Sibal met with Sonia Gandhi to apprise her of the situation.

There is a balancing act to be done as on the one hand, the Muslim backlash has to be "managed" and on the other, BJP's "minority appeasement" charge needs to be fought. So, the Congress leaders wanted something to be done. At least a perception to be given that something is being done.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Rahul Gandhi will visit Punjab next week for three-days to strengthen the Congress party's base particularly among the youth.This was announced here on tuesday evening by All India Youth Congress general secretary Sheikh Mastan Wali,who is also incharge of Congress' youth affairs in Punjab.

Under pressure to quit over his handling of internal security, Home Minister Shivraj Patil has said that he will quit if the Congress leadership wants him to go.

The Home Minister took exception to the criticism over his changing clothes thrice while appearing before the media on Saturday night when Delhi was rocked by the blasts and said "you criticise his policies, you don't criticise his clothes".

"I have no group either. It's only that the leadership supports me that I continue to stay here," he was quoted as saying in a TV channel.