A top Mumbai politician cancelled a flat booked in posh Central Mumbai locality after being advised by a senior leader. Apparently, the politician is likely to be included in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle of Devendra Fadnavis government. He was advised against buying a flat worth crores as this could boomerang on him because questions are already being asked about his wealth.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee is settling down in his new residence at 10 Rajaji Marg. There is no breather for the workaholic former Congressman. In his retirement home, Mukherjee is busy writing a book on the five years of his presidency.His close aides say an autobiography in Bengali is also in the offing.

Vice President-elect M Venkaiah Naidu said during an event that India stands for ‘Integrated National Development Impacting All Indians, equally well’. He said that it is the mission for the country. He earlier gave the acronym for Modi, saying it means ‘Maker of Developed India’. Naidu also defined APJ Abdul Kalam as ‘Anything is Possible with Just Attitude and Karma’.

Nara Brahmani has categorically said that she is not interested in either politics or films. She said she is more focused on developing Heritage and make it number one. She said Heritage was serving 10 lakh farmers. This comment is significant as her name cropped up as a possible candidate for Lok Sabha from Vijayawada. But, she said she wants to achieve Rs 6 crore turnover for Heritage.

After forming the government in alliance with Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, the BJP and its allies have their government in 18 states in India. Further, five states and one Union Territory are ruled by the Congress, while the rest are ruled by the regional parties like the TRS, Trinamool Congress, BJD, AAP and AIADMK.

“The greatest favour Rahul Gandhi could do himself and to Indian democracy is to retire,” writer Ramachandra Guha has said. He further said that it was unbelievable how Gandhi went to Mandsaur during the farmers’ agitation and then took off to Europe for a month. “He showed his face and got his photograph clicked and went away,” he added.

NDA’s vice-presidential nominee Venkaiah Naidu was at his wittiest best after filing his nomination papers. Minister of state MJ Akbar congratulated him in Parliament saying he would now hear good English when Naidu would preside in Rajya Sabha. Naidu, who has been panned in southern states recently for propagating Hindi, quickly replied “Hinglish, not English.”

Telangana’s swashbuckling minister KTR turned adventurous the other day. After taking part in the Haritha Haram in Mahabubnagar , KTR traveled in the rope way in Mayuri Park. He also inaugurated a slew of developmental programmes in the town. As usual, he slammed the Congress and said that it was obstructing development in the state. He said the TRS would politically crush the Congress.

Besides visiting states for workshops on GST implementation, central ministers could soon be writing opinion pieces in newspapers, visiting newspaper offices for discussions on GST with editorial staff and bringing out their department-specific booklets on the new tax regime. This message to go all out in explaining the importance of GST to the media and masses was given out to ministers at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.

With Opposition parties going ahead with their coordination on presidential and vice-presidential polls and plans in Parliament, AAP’s total isolation becomes glaring. The fact that it may back Meira Kumar and Gopal Gandhi, to many opposition leaders justifies their rational that Arvind Kejriwal’s party is now left with no options even if uninvited.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) was first proposed 17 years ago, when the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee formed a GST committee. A proposed model was first placed during 2006 Budget speech, and the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced in 2010 that GST will be implemented from April 2011. It finally got President’s approval in September 2016.

BJP chief Amit Shah had an interesting experience during his official visit to Nalgonda in Telangana. A farmer from the backward caste felicitated him by offering him a stick, an angvastram and a live goat. He wanted to express his gratitude to BJP for espousing the cause of the backward castes.

YS Jagan’s Maha Dharna over Vizag land scam is sending shivers through the spine of TDP. Even before the Dharna is over, TDP MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana came before the media and amid high drama used invectives like ‘Naa Kodaka’ and ‘Cheppu To Kodathaa’, considered very abusive and insulting, while referring to soft-spoken and mild-mannered YSRCP MP Vijay Sai Reddy. He also called Vijay Sai a ”scoundrel.” How low can anyone get than this?

Kamal Rashid Khan, in a series of tweets, has alleged that the Indian cricketers had fixed the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan and has demanded jail for the players. He further demands that BCCI’s recognition should be revoked while ‘Deshdrohis’ including Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh should be banned by the government.

TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy, who has been banned by seven domestic airlines, has flown to Paris for a family vacation. Reddy was banned by IndiGo on Thursday for misbehaving with staff at Visakhapatnam airport, following which six other airlines also banned him. He has refused to apologise for the incident, while the civil aviation ministry has ordered a probe.