Cong civic poll panel set up,Kalmadi kept out

To bring an end to factionalism within the local unit of the party,the Congress state wing on Monday constituted a coordination committee of the party for the forthcoming civic polls and included all senior leaders in the committee. However,the party kept city MP Suresh Kalmadi out of the committee under whose leadership it had contested the earlier civic polls.

The committee was announced by Congress state chief Manikrao Thakre. The committee would be headed by former legislator Sharad Ranpise and include all legislators from the city,Ulhas Pawar,Ramesh Bagwe,Vinayak Nimhan,Mohan Joshi,Dipti Chaudhari and former legislators Balasaheb Shivarkar and Chhandrakant Chhajed. It also included state women wing chief Kamal Vyavahare and Congress city chief Abhay Chhajed. Congress state spokesperson Anant Gadgil is in the committee. Rohit Tilak,Prasanna Jagtap,Ulhas Bagul,Virendra Kirad,Deepak Mankar are also members.

The Congress move comes after two factions,one led by Kalmadi supporters and the other by those opposed to him,had made their differences public after Kalmadi’s arrest for alleged charges of corruption in organising the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The party had suspended Kalmadi from the party after his arrest. It had also triggered a debate on who would lead the party in civic polls in the absence of Kalmadi.