•Hello and welcome to Walk the Talk. My guest today is a very unusual politician because she has defied anti-incumbency not once but thrice, and somebody that almost nobody is embarrassed to say he or she is fond of. Hard-nosed journalists say they are fond of her, even her opponents find it difficult to say anything, at least personally, against her. Sheilaji, welcome to Walk the Talk.

Thank you.

•Third time on Walk the Talk, and Chief Minister for the third time.

Yes.

•Chief Minister three times... barring those of the Left, these are not things that we are familiar with anymore in Indian politics.

No, I don’t know. I have just been myself and what I grew up to believe, because we belong to that era where we were impacted by Pandit Nehru, we were impacted by Indira Gandhi, saw Rajiv Gandhi from very close quarters. So, maybe we belong to that milieu.

•It’s very funny that you say so but a lot of young people who vote for you — and a large number of young people vote for you — identify with you like you were their age group, a young leader. They never hold their experience against you.

No, no. I’ll tell you one thing. It’s a misconception to think that young people only relate to young people. I think young people relate to mature people, older people sometimes even better because they can say things or expect things. And they know that the guidance will be there.

... contd.