Former Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman and MP from Pune, Suresh Kalmadi, was on Thursday granted bail by the Delhi High Court after remaining in jail for nine months in CWG-related graft cases. Kalmadi, arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation on April 25 last year, was directed to furnish a bail bond of Rs 5 lakh. The court's decision has evoked a mixed reaction in the Maharashtra unit of the Congress and also in the Pune city unit of the party, dominated by Kalmadi supporters.
Some party officebearers owing allegiance to Kalmadi burst firecrackers and distributed sweets in and outside the Pune city party office immediately after TV channels started flashing the news. The news came when the parliamentary board of the Pune city district Congress was meeting aspirants for the Pune civic body elections.
Kalmadi's release is expected to change equations in the Pune city Congress, especially when the poll process for the municipal corporation is under way and voting is slated for February 16. However, Maharashtra state Congress chief, Manikrao Thakre, made it clear that Kalmadi, who has been suspended from the party after his arrest, cannot be part of the party's election campaign for Pune civic body. Thakre said it would be up to him to campaign for an individual.
On distribution of sweets by party members after the news of Kalmadi's release, Thakre said disciplinary action would be taken against those members.
Kalmadi's release has come handy for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to further embarrass the Congress in the civic body elections. NCP and Congress are contesting the elections without any truck. The Shiv Sena and BJP, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said the Kalmadi and Congress nexus would be exposed during the campaign.
NCP leader and state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had already called upon voters in Pune that those who had 'defamed' the city with their involvement in corruption in the Commonwealth Games should be thrown out of power. Pawar had recently said, "The man who led the party in the city is in Tihar Jail. This is the ruling party which holds the post of chief minister. He (Kalmadi) has brought disrepute to the city. This is an opportunity for citizens to keep the corrupt away from power."
An NCP leader, who did not want to be identified, said the party had already announced its decision to reach out to voters on the development plank.
"Kalmadi's release cannot be overlooked, as the party will take on the Congress," he said.
Mohan Joshi, Congress legislator and Kalmadi's rival, downplayed the release. "I do not think Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi will approve of Kalmadi's return to the party," Joshi said.