I came across a committed and hardworking congress worker named Mamatha Banerjee. I mentored her for politics after seeing her dedication to public cause. Being a woman, making a career in public life is not easy, that too from West Bengal. I had seen her struggle. I supported her as much as I could. I had sent money from AICC when her father died. She left the Congress later. Once I had gone with Pranab Mukherjee to West Bengal to hold talks about forging an alliance with her party. She had told her representative who was organised the meeting that Janardhan Poojaryji had come for the meeting and you should treat him with respect. This was revealed by her representative after the meeting.

Journalists asked both of us about Kesari's decision. My party colleague from Maharashtra said 'Kesari is a crazy fellow". I said, "He is the deciding authority" and laughed it off.