All through childhood my mother would tell me: “You have to work hard to get whatever is in your destiny. But, remember, you can never get more than you are destined to get and never before the time that you are destined to get it.’’ Read more

The BJP’s Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari have almost always never agreed on anything. Read more

Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari, speaking to me in another context (of Pramod Mahajan’s troubled son Rahul), had once said, “Jaisa beej boya, vaisa hi phal paya (as you sow, so you reap).’’ Read more

On August 15 last year the BJP made such a fuss about their party president Nitin Gadkari’s absence at the flag hoisting ceremony in their party headquarters in New Delhi. Read more

Sonia Gandhi’s first ever full-blown political rally was in Maharashtra – in the tribal district of Nandurbar. Sharad Pawar was astonished at the numbers the adivasis turned up in to hear Mrs Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law. Read more

Pramod Mahajan was frothing at the mouth one day many, many moons ago. I was working for The Indian Express then and the paper had published an anchor story by me which detailed how the BJP was preparing to translate the Koran into Sanskrit. Read more

Some years ago, when Sitaram Kesri had pulled support from the Deve Gowda government in New Delhi, I called Sharad Pawar to ascertain what he would do – would he split the Congress to support Gowda, would he go along with Kesri (whom he abhorred) or would he make a bid for the top job himself? Read more