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Tainted Congress MP Kalmadi backs party candidate

Controversial Congress member of parliament from Pune Suresh Kalmadi, accused of malfeasance in the Commonwealth Games scam, on Tuesday backed the official party candidate for the city, despite being deprived of the seat.

The Congress, under attack for putting up allegedly corrupt candidates, had decided not to field Kalmadi or his relatives from Pune. Kalmadi had won the Lok Sabha elections from the Pune seat in 1996, 2004 and 2009, but had got embroiled in the Commonwealth Games scam, when he was heading the organising committee. He was arrested for his role in the corruption case.

After being denied the ticket, Kalmadi had threatened to consider other options, perhaps even fighting as an independent. Last week, he questioned the Congress for having given a ticket to Pawan Kumar Bansal from Chandigarh. The former Railway minister had to quit last May after his nephew was arrested for taking a bribe for fixing a senior-level job in the Railway Board.

Kalmadi also referred to the Congress extending support to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, despite his conviction in the fodder scam case. “Compared to these people, I have not even been convicted and my case is still at the trial stage,” he said.

Though the Congress decided not to give the Pune ticket to Kalmadi or his wife, the party is worried about the damage that the sitting MP can cause in the city. Kalmadi has a huge following in Pune. With opinion polls predicting a rout for the party — which is not even expected to win 100 seats in parliament according to most polls — the Congress is eager to keep all factions happy in key constituencies.

The Pune seat will see a four-cornered contest. The Congress has nominated Vishwajeet Kadam, son of Patangrao Kadam, a powerful education and sugar baron and Congress leader (and who is always in the race for the chief ministership of Maharashtra).

The junior Kadam, who is also the chief of the state Youth Congress, is seen to be close to Rahul Gandhi.

The BJP was also in a dilemma about declaring its candidate for Pune, as there were two major claimants — Anil Shirole, who has the backing of Gopinath Munde, and Girish Bapat, who was being backed by former BJP president Nitin Gadkari. But the party finally decided to name Shirole as its candidate from Pune.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has declared Deepak Paigude as its candidate from Pune, while the Aam Aadmi Party has nominated Subhash Ware as its candidate.

nithin@khaleejtimes.com