Cong leaders oppose premature launch of LS poll campaign

The Congress leaders in the state have opposed the election campaign launched by party's sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi here as he is yet to be nominated for the Pune seat by the party.
 
In his apparent dissent over Kalmadi's Sampark Yatra in a slum colony where he gave election promises, the MPCC spokesman Anantrao Gadgil, without naming Kalmadi, expressed displeasure at the poll drive started by some party leaders even before naming of party candidates by the High Command.

A group of leaders within the party has also asked the High Command to take note of the audacity on part of the sitting Pune MP to flaunt himself as the official nominee ignoring the selection norms.
 
"We have apprised the high command the party's victory prospects would be bleak if the sitting MP is renominated," Mohan Joshi, an MLC, who himself is an aspirant for the Pune seat, said.
 
Toeing Joshi's line, Ulhas Pawar, another MLC and a long time associate of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, "the manner in which the sitting MP is parading himself gives the impression to the electorate that Congress has officially re-nominated him. This is absolutely wrong."

Pawar also criticised state party observer Rajani Patil for projecting Kalmadi as the party candidate from Pune prior to official approval.

Interestingly, the five names suggested by the Kalmadi detractors for consideration of party nominee include that of Anant Gadgil, the party spokesman who issued the statement on Sunday, leading to the meeting of the loyalists.
 
Kalmadi, according to them, is not a loyalist as he has been in and out of Congress during his political career.
 
The other four loyalists who have thrown their hat in the ring are Mohan Joshi, MLC, who was in the race for party nominee in 2004 elections, former state minister Balasaheb Shivarkar, Sharad Ranpise and Ulhas Pawar.
 
While Congress and NCP are now engaged in the seat-sharing exercise to contest the polls, NCP president Sharad Pawar has said his party would support whosoever was named as Congress nominee if the Pune seat was left to that party in the electoral understanding.