"I was rather impressed with the story of Anil Ambani's powers to make or break the kings or aspiring Queens of India."
"Who is he?"
"The owner of Reliance, an Indian company. Apparently he supported Vajpayee in the last elections and now they are saying he has switched his loyalties to Sonia Gandhi."
"Sounds like one of ours...I mean in terms of switching loyalties."
"Well, his father was a supporter of Congress (I) but now he is back in the fold so to speak."
"The prodigal returns."
"Yes precisely."
"But how did he make Sonia win?"
"He was apparently arranging a coalition between Congress (I) and the Samajwadi party - the party that refused to form a coalition with Sonia in 1999 leading to her failure to form a government at the time. Ambani recently met Sonia and the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh. And they say a deal had been reached though Singh maintains he met with Ambani to discuss possible investments in his state."
"Well, Sonia has won, she may not need the party after all."
"You know it's interesting but many say that Blair discusses a lot of his plans with Rupert Murdoch - you know the guy who owns the Sun and the..."
"Yes but Murdoch is anti-Blair these days."
"Which is why they think Blair will either have to face the prospect of losing elections or else save face and resign now."
"Cool. And Bush...?"
"Bush has his own band of neo-Conservatives with television stations and newspaper writers."
"Who do we have in Pakistan?"
"Well, our leaders tended to see things more in black and white. So if one of them liked one person or a newspaper group the other would hound them. As far as industrialists were concerned take the case of Mansha, he could do no wrong in one Prime Minister's tenure and had to go into a self-imposed exile in another's."
"What about Musharraf?"
"Don't mix Musharraf up with mere civilian politicians! What's happening to you! He will sic his army of sycophants on you."