HOLI KE 3 DIN PEHLE SHATRUGHAN SINHA NE FIR APNE RANG BADLE AUR NAYE DISHA MEIN CHALE... BY Ali Peter John

I was in Chennai for organizing my awards and my major achievement was that I had taken Rekha to channai without letting her know that we were going to ask her to present the lifetime achievement award to her father, the veteran actor, Gemini Ganesan and they were not even on talking for years - Ali Peter John

I had also taken some of the leading stars from Bombay to channai for the awards and wanted more stars to make the award ceremony a grand success.

I came to know that Shatarughan Sinha who was then union cabinet minister for shipping was campaigning for the BJP in channai. I bargd into his suite without any appointment and he arrived in great style with gun/totting commandos protecting him on all sides.

He was dressed in a white dhoti and matching kurta and had a large saffron colored mark on his forehead and his followers walked into his suite shouting Jai Siya Ram.

I told him about the purpose of my visit and he instantly said, "Give me 15 minutes and I will be ready". And when he came out of his room, he was dressed in casual jeans and a t-shirt and was wearing hawai chappals.

I asked him about the sudden change and he said, "Wo sab Mera politics tha, ye Mari sachchai hai" and we left for the venue of the awards where he won unprecedented applause for his unprepared speech.

Those 15 minutes in his suite is something I always remember when I think about the way he keeps changing his loyalty to different parties...

He had joined the BJP on the invitation of Senior leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha and he made rapid progress and when Bajpai became the prime minister, he appointed Shatru as a union minister in his cabinet and Shatru emerged as a minister, leader and politician without any blemish.

But, all was not well for him within the party and when elections were called the next time, he was already a disillusioned politician and joined the very congress party he used attack day in and day out and sang the praises of Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka and was seen at their residence more than at their offices.

He was almost sidelined during the recent elections to the five assemblies and I, like many other observers of his political movements waited to see what he would do now.

Incidentally, his son Love had contested the assembly elections on a congress ticket in Bihar, but had lost miserably.

And when I switched on my mobile the first thing in the morning I found my answer to what my old friend SHATRUGHAN SINHA was planning or had already planned. He had joined Mumta Banerjee's Trinamul Congress and was even given a ticket to contest the midterm poll to the elections from the Assansol seat in west bengal which had to vacated by the music composer Babul Supriyo for political and other prickly and trivial reasons.

It is now to be seen how Mamata Banerjee makes sure that Shatru wins the seat and keeps both his prestige and the prestige of Mamta Banerjee and her party, the TMC alive.

Shatru's present and his future have already become an endless subject for jokes and memes on the social media.

AAGE AAGE DEKHTE HAI HOTA HAI KYA.