Watch these dates in Bihar

September 26 is the last day for candidates to withdraw their nominations for the first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections. Elections for 49 seats in 10 districts are to be held on October 12. By September 26 we will know whether the Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress grand alliance has any rebel candidates and who they are; if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is contesting without the JD(U) for the first time, has also managed to cobble together a seamless alliance; and if any chief ministerial candidate will be thrown up from this lot of seats. The districts being contested are Samastipur, Begusarai, Bhagalpur, Banka, Khagaria, Munger, Lakhisarai, Shekhpura, Nawada and Jamui.

In Samastipur, Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Kameshwar Hazari, who had contested the previous assembly polls from Singhia Assembly constituency, has joined the BJP along with his wife Manju Hazari. Manju is also the chairperson of the Samastipur Zila Parishad.

Some senior leaders from the Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) have also joined the BJP in this region. Therefore, expect sabotage by the LJP. How this will work will be clear on September 26.

Puducherry's RS seat

September 28 will see the election of the lone MP in the Rajya Sabha from Puducherry. P Kannan from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was the sitting MP in this seat and he retired a couple of months ago. The AIADMK has the capacity to win the seat again as it has a majority in the Puducherry legislative assembly. Therefore, the election will be neutral as regards the NDA's strength in the Rajya Sabha. We will know who his successor will be, later this week. However, two nominated MPs - Ashok Ganguly and H K Dua - retire in November. The BJP is getting all its ducks in position before that, for those vacancies will mean BJP will have two more MPs in its Upper House kitty.

Mathura, the favoured venue

Isn't it strange that Mathura should be the venue for every important meeting of India's two most important political parties: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)?

It was Mathura the BJP chose to flag off its one year of being in office. The day was celebrated as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya's birthday (he was born in the Chandrabhan village of Mathura) on May 25, 2015, and it was here that Narendra Modi asserted that in the one year that the BJP had been in power, there had been no scams, no middlemen and no intermediaries.

Interestingly, though it had been on the BJP's agenda, Modi did not even talk about the Krishnajanmabhoomi in Mathura let alone visit any temples that crowd the city.

Now a few months later, the Congress is going to hold a "Çhintan Baithak" in Mathura. The meeting will be held on Monday and will be addressed by Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. This is not the first time the party is holding a meeting in this town - it had held a similar brainstorming session in 2000. However, it will come a day after the party's "Victory Rally" to celebrate the U-turn the BJP was forced to take on the proposed land acquisition law.

Strategies for winning back

Uttar Pradesh, beginning with the Panchayat elections will be drawn up. The party will consider ways in which its parliamentary victories can be used to consolidate its hold among the people. Is this the unofficial anointment of Rahul Gandhi as the working chief of the party ? Quite possibly.

Buzz over Modi's US visit

All of this week, there will be frantic activity over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States beginning September 27. Locally, the BJP will be engaged in maximum outreach with CEOs of the information technology kingdom to line up meetings. Plus, there's the massive diaspora meeting that is expected to set the US on fire.

The other part of the equation is of course Pakistan - whether the two PMs will meet or not; is Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif's advisor Sartaj Aziz right in saying it is India that has to forward the invitation; and whether India will do so. All these questions will be answered this week. Meanwhile, Pakistani cricketer Zaheer Abbas says the whole world wants India and Pakistan to play cricket.