84 Cong names include many Kalmadi loyalists,sitting corporators

It looks like Congress aspirants will have to wait till the eleventh hour before the party decides to nominate them as the official candidates for the civic polls. With the deadline of January 31 drawing close,about 800 aspirants of the Congress filed nominations at various ward offices in the city on Monday. The party has officially announced 84 names in the first and second lists — with a striking percentage of sitting corporators,relatives of heavyweight leaders and most importantly,Kalmadi loyalists. But the future of more than 70 wards hangs in the balance,making room for a rebellion.

While 17 of the announced names are sitting corporators,prominent names include Sangeeta Tiwari,chairperson,Education Board and a known Kalmadi loyalist,Jalinder Kamble,Sangeeta Deokar,former corporator,Snehal Padale,chief of City Women’s Wing along with Neeta Rajput,former chief of City Women’s Wing,Yogesh Pingale,who quit NCP to join the Congress.

Over 50 per cent of these names are Kalmadi loyalists. However,party officials deny this. “Given that Kalmadi dominated the election scenario in the previous elections,it is bound to happen that many of the names who have elective merit are Kalmadi loyalists. Elective merit is the sole criterion of choosing candidates,” said a party official. Meanwhile,City Congress chief Abhay Chhajed and Aba Bagul filed their nominations from ward panel 66 and 67 respectively at the Sahakar Nagar election office on Monday.

The Congress election campaign will start on Tuesday in the presence of CM Prithviraj Chavan and other leaders.