Politics can make for strange bedfellows. In 2002, Ram Vilas Paswan had quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance or the NDA spewing venom at Narendra Modi’s handling of the Gujarat riots. Now, a dozen years later, he has joined hands with the Modi-led BJP. Paswan is not the only one who has done a volte face. MJ Akbar did the same.

The mind boggles every time I see sworn enemies turn friends and partners. But, that’s the way it works in our politics. And do we see the same in the media? Last weekend, a friend drew my attention to what took me by surprise. A Times Now ad on Aaj Tak. Now, it’s not the case of a new show on a general entertainment channel that’s advertising on a news channel.