It was full house in the Central Hall of Parliament today. Congress MPs were heard criticising senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, calling him a motor mouth for his comment that the Congress was going through an existential crisis. But the criticism was brief.

The party finally had reason to celebrate with Ahmed Patel's successful re-election from Gujarat to the Rajya Sabha. Many Congress MPs were also happy that the revivalism of the party has begun with Patel, but as many others were also heard saying that it is Patel's revivalism and the end of Rahul Gandhi's political influence on Sonia Gandhi.  

Senior CWC members were heard saying that at yesterday's meeting with the Election Commission, many senior party leaders were there to present the memorandum to the CEC on Ahmed Patel, but nobody was interested in the Quit India resolution that Sonia Gandhi read out in Parliament today.  

One of the delegates to the CEC from the Congress was unable to walk due to medication and had to be literally carried to the meeting. This Congress leader normally avoids meetings in the evening nor does he answer phone calls because the medication makes him sleepy.  

The buzz is that Congress MP Rajiv Sukhla negotiated with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Bihar Congress leaders to ensure that the NCP MLA and JDU MLA voted for Ahmed Patel. Rajiv Shukla is now being hailed as a hero in Central Hall.  

BJP MPs, on the other hand, were speculating that Rajiv Shukla's entry into Gujarat politics is a fallout of BCCI politics. It is by using his BCCI clout that Shukla negotiated with Sharad Pawar for the NCP MLA's vote to Ahmed Patel. Four senior ministers were with Arun Jaitley in the CEC chambers yesterday -- Ravi  Shankar Prasad, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal and Dharmedra Pradhan.  
 

BJP MPs were also heard saying that Arun Jaitley has become much closer to the RSS leadership after his visit to Kerala on Sunday after the murder of RSS functionaries. The Centre will not hesitate to send a strong message to the Kerala government.  


AIADMK MPs were talking in Central hall about Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapaadi Palaniswami will be attend Venkaiah Naidu's swearing in on  Friday. But the O Panneerselvam faction will be skipping the function as he is upset with BJP and PM Modi in particular because the faction believes that no action has been taken against the Sasikala faction.