The cat and mouse game!

PUNE, FEBRUARY 9: Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck six, then seven, the mouse ran down the clock and oh, h...

PUNE, FEBRUARY 9: Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse ran up the clock, the clock struck six, then seven, the mouse ran down the clock and oh, how he received the cat 8211; not all the Kalmadi baiters nor all the Munde antagonists would have ever dreamt that the cat and mouse could have got together again..With due apologies to the nursery rhymes, it was but a sight that would have even led Hamlet to brush aside his dilemma to be or not to be. T8217;was inexplicable, yet true. Tables sure have turned, but 8217;tis a game that only Kalmadi8217;s clock will tell8230;And so it went 8211; the clock 8211; tick, tock, tick 8211; rewind to 8217;96 8211; Congress party8217;s sporting face Suresh Kalmadi came like a whiff of fresh air while the Bharatiya Janata Party8217;s devoted worker Girish Bapat sent many a hearts flutter in downtown Sadashiv Peth.

Fastforward to 8217;98 8211; saffron is in the air. It8217;s everywhere. That politics make strange bedfellows could not be more true when, hey, the former adversaries Kalmadi and Bapat even looked like Siamese twins. WhenBapat hosts the grand show to kick off the campaign, brings in Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde and engineers the grand arrival of Kalmadi on the dais, what more could the principled Punekars want ? And after all it is the Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji who the vote is for, remember..

So back to the huge rally, yep, they found every corner to see the show which was a 8220;success.8221; It took a Kaka Wadke, Shiv Sena leader to admit to the audience that it was but the diktat of their all and mighty Bal Thackeray that had necessitated the swing in Kalmadi8217;s favour.

Boy, did they play to the gallery. 8220;Dal Badla hai, dil to nahi, tumhare dil se asani se nahi nikloonga 8211; Changed my party yes 8211; not my heart- won8217;t leave your hearts so fast 8211; Bah ! Do you need an imported leadership, Arre, Kalmadi 8211; hi to hai 8211; Kal, Aaj aur Kal ki jhulti huyi ghadi 8212; it is Kalmadi8217;s pendulum that will strike yesterday, today and tomorrow8230;

Mock and scorn as you may, but the support is trickling in from all sides.Maulana Kazi, the person who represents vital Muslim votes, was not alone when he was tickled pink to find that he did not have to meet Kalmadi and Bapat privately. These guys actually shared the dais. 8220;Badi pareshani se bach gaye 8211; ek hi jagah pe mil gaye dono,8217;8216; Saved from a lot of trouble as met both at the same place8230; Do we need to add that Kalmadi and Munde were members of a mutual admiration society8230;. Time will tell 8230;.the clock has yet to strike one8230;Hickory Dickory Dock.