The PM is keen to fill 40 per cent of joint secretary level openings with outsiders.

Prime Minister Modi has entrusted Amit Shah with the task of coordinating all the agencies with their power to monitor movement and phone calls, says R Rajagopalan.

In the next two years, reveals says R Rajagopalan, Modi-Shah will make a strong effort to woo the south.

From handling the party organisation, finalising candidates, shooting the breeze with the media to pow-wows with diplomats and liaising with the PMO -- Arun Jaitley is the BJP's chief backroom manager in this election, reports R Rajagopalan.

The Friends of Modi initiative is expected to to boost the BJP's vote count by at least 1%.

R Rajagopalan reveals the BJP's master plan to get Modi re-elected.

'With its vote bank is intact, the PMK, though a smaller party of Vanniars, was able to twist around major parties like the DMK and AIADMK, negotiating with both before settling for Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami's side.' 'There is a lesson in it for regional parties in other states as well, on how to dominate the national parties with a committed vote share of just 7 to 8 per cent,' says R Rajagopalan.

Thus it was that for the first time in the history of the republic a constitutional amendment was announced and passed by Parliament within 72 hours, reports R Rajagopalan.

'KCR's plan for the future is three-pronged. He wants to see a non-Congress, non-BJP government at the Centre in 2019 so that he can become the Union minister for home or defence,' says R Rajagopalan.

'Naidu understands electoral calculus, that the regional parties are yet to gain confidence in Rahul as a vote-catcher,' points out R Rajagopalan.

'The BJP will be the single largest party in the next Lok Sabha, the only one party with a three digit tally.'

In Karunanidhi's passing the real loser is Tamil Nadu and Tamil language. So far there is no one on the horizon to fill the vacuum left behind by him, says R Rajagopalan.

Even as the actor-turned-politician said that it was just 'a courtesy call', speculation about a future alliance between them has been doing the rounds in the national capital, says R Rajagopalan.

Rajinikanth's comments on the Cauvery issue have often made him the target of pro-Kannada outfits who threatened to disrupt his film's release in Karnataka. However, this time there has so far been a lack of fanfare even in Tamil Nadu. R Rajagopalan explains why.

'The Modi-Shah duo won't leave the war zone without putting up a tough fight.' 'Modi's slogan for 2019 could well be, "I have done much. Give me one more chance to do even more".' '2019 will be tough for the BJP.' 'But it will be even tougher for the Opposition -- united or otherwise,' says R Rajagopalan.

In early 2017, Amit A Shah warned Nara Chandrababu Naidu that Narendra D Modi was not like Atal Bihari Vajpayee to yield to pressure tactics. Soon, Naidu was to discover this for himself.

R Rajagopalan predicts that Tamil Nadu won't have single party rule for the first time in its history.

Banerjee feels that as long as Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, she should be the undisputed leader of a united front of opposition parties, reports R Rajagopalan.

The new Congress president is building a core team of youngsters while waiting for his mother's coterie to retire, reports R Rajagopalan.

The RK Nagar bypoll result is a danger signal to the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu, says R Rajagopalan.