Whakakiia te rerenga e whai ake nei: Mai i te 1980 ki te 1985 me te 1989 ki te 1990, ko Shengelaia, he mema o te roopu Communist i taua wa, i pootihia ki te Georgian SSR Supreme Soviet, a, mai i te 1989 ki te 1991, ki te Congress of the People's Deputies of the USSR. He mema ia o te komihana Sobchak, e tirotiro ana i te ope Soviet
te tukino i te huihuinga pro-whakakore i Tbilisi, i hangaia e ia he kiriata tuhinga. I te Hōngongoi 1989, ka noho a Shengelaia hei mema taketake o te People's Front of Georgia, he rōpū pro-whakapaetanga, a ka puta mai hei kaiarahi o tana parirau totika. I te Oketopa 1990, i pootihia ia ki te Kaunihera Nui o Georgia i nga pooti maha-rōpū tuatahi i Soviet Georgia, a, ko ia tetahi o nga hainatanga ki te Ture Motuhake o Georgia i te Paenga-whāwhā 1991. Whai muri mai, i te whakahe ia ki te kawanatanga o Zviad Gamsakhurdia whai muri i tana whakakorenga i roto i te mahi hoia i te Hanuere 1992, ka uru atu a Shengelaia ki te Kaunihera o Georgia a Eduard Shevardnadze. I te tau 1992, ka noho ia hei mema o te whare paremata i reira i noho ai ia hei kaikorero tuarua mai i te tau 1995. I honoa ia, i te marama o Mei 1993, me te kaupapa pro-Shevardnadze Unity and Prosperity i whakaturia e etahi o nga tohunga nui.