India, July 18 -- Three weeks back, a top politician received a call from an industrialist, who wanted to know whether a political storm was brewing in the country. Taken aback by the query, which came amidst a spiralling spike in Covid-19 cases, the leader put forth some counter-questions, after which he was convinced that either Rajasthan or Maharashtra was going to witness a battle royale, amongst those who were in power and those who wanted to upstage them.

The industrialist had mentioned that demands for arranging large sums of money had started pouring in, and therefore, the festive season for MLAs might prematurely commence in a couple of states. The recent attempt in Rajasthan to dislodge the Congress regime, perhaps, is an illus...