Pune political observers were dealt with a surprise when veteran Congressman and former union minister Suresh Kalmadi was seen in the corridors of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) after a decade’s time.
With the mega municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra coming up, Kalmadi’s visit to the PMC offices is significant.
“Yes…I have come after a long time…I will keep on coming (regularly now),” he said in his brief interaction with reporters.
At one point, he was one of the most powerful Congress leaders in New Delhi because of his proximity to the Gandhi family, as well as him being a six-time Parliamentarian—twice in Lok Sabha and four times in Rajya Sabha.
The 78-year-old Kalmadi, a former IAF pilot and instructor who served the air force in the 1965 and the 1971 wars against Pakistan, was the chief of the Commonwealth Games 2010 organising committee, and had been charged with, and arrested for corruption.
Kalmadi spent 10 months in jail, from April 2011 to January 2012, on corruption charges when he was in-charge of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
He served as the Minister of State for Railways in the P V Narasimha Rao government. He was also the president of Indian Olympic Association from 1996-2012. He was also the president of Asian Athletics Association from 2000-13.
Published 05 August 2022, 14:08 IST