Babul Supriyo: From playback singing to political heavyweight

It was a quirk of fate that brought playback singer Babul Supriyo to the political scene and turned him into a politician and a union minister.

Supriyo, who was elected to Lok Sabha from Asansol in West Bengal for a second term, took oath as a minister Thursday.

Born Babul Supriyo Baral in 1970 to Sunil Chandra Baral and Sumitra Baral, he comes from a musical family and was greatly influenced by his grandfather, Banikantha NC Baral, a noted Bengali vocalist and composer.

After completing his graduation with commerce as major in 1991, Babul Supriyo worked briefly as a banker in Standard Chartered Bank. But in 1992, he gave up his job and shifted to Mumbai to pursue his musical career and performed at various stage shows and was the playback for several Bollywood flicks.

Supriyo's breakthrough came with blockbuster Bollywood "Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai" in 2000, in which his song "Dil Ne Dil ko Pukara" was a huge hit.

It was during a flight as a co passenger of Yoga Guru Ramdev, that he found his calling in politics.

It was Ramdev, who offered Supriyo, an ardent follower of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra modi, to contest election on a BJP ticket. He agreed and the rest is history.

He contested on a BJP ticket from Asansol Lok Sabha seat and won the polls with a handsome margin. He was made union minister of state for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

Later during a ministry reshuffle, he was made Union MOS for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

In 2015, he courted controversy in the party when his bonhomie with West Bengal Chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee made headlines and didn't go down well with the partymen.

He, along with Banerjee, had 'jhalmuri', a Bengali snack, together and Supriyo had defended his bonhomie as "political courtesy".

In 2019, he was renominated from Asansol Lok Sabha seat and was pitted against actor-turned politician Moon Moon Sen of TMC.

Forty-eight-year-old Supriyo won the seat by defeating Sen by a margin of 1,97,637 votes.