Nomination: Kalmadi gets NCP leaders to accompany him

Four candidates,including Kalmadi and bureaucrat-turned-politician Arun Bhatia,filed their papers on Thursday. The last date for filing nominations is Saturday,but Friday is a state holiday on account of Ram Navami.

Kalmadi was also accompanied by state Cooperation Minister Harshwardhan Patil,legislators Chandrakant Chhajed,Ramesh Bagawe as also city Congress chief Abhay Chhajed and Meera Kalmadi.

The Congress-NCP relationship has been blowing hot and cold as Kalmadi was not invited for the Tuesday rally of the three Lok Sabha candidates being fielded by the NCP in Pune. However,NCP chief Sharad Pawar had attended a public rally at the Congress Bhavan on Saturday.

Before heading towards the election office at district collectorate for filing his nomination,Kalmadi addressed workers at the party office and said: “The fight is with the BJP and we will win the seat by over one lakh votes.”

Arun Bhatia,who is contesting as a representative of the People’s Guardian Party,said,“Genuine voters stayed away from elections in 2004,but awareness about the need for active participation will ensure a good turnout and I will gain from it.”

Two other Independent candidates,Ganesh Talgeri and Amanullah Khan,also filed nominations for the Pune seat on Thursday.

Bhatia richer than Kalmadi

Congress candidate Suresh Kalmadi has declared assets,including the property owned by his wife,of Rs 12.81 crore while bureaucrat-turned-politician Arun Bhatia has assets worth Rs 30 crore,which includes the Rs 9-crore property he owns along with his wife. Kalmadi said he has a total of Rs 8.73 crore in assets,while his wife has property worth Rs 4.08 crore. Most of his assets is in shares,in which he has invested Rs 4.13 crore.

Bhatia owns property worth Rs 21.16 crore,while his wife owns property worth Rs 9 crore. Bhatia owns a building worth Rs 20 crore in Delhi and has agriculture land worth Rs 60 lakh in Dochi village of Himachal Pradesh.