Kalmadi aides rush to Pawar

With Prof Ramakrishna More8217;s thumping victory to the Maharashtra Legislative Council as Congress candidate defeating Shrikant Shirole of PVA has unleashed a chain of hectic political activity putting a question mark before Kalmadi8217;s clout. More on his day of election had declared that he would pay attention to local politics in the PMC as well.

Today8217;s meeting thus assumes significance, say several Congress corporators. PVA corporators Hanumant Darekar, Udaykant Andekar, Ramakant Andekar, Anjani Nimhan and associate member Anantha Bhoj along with Prof More met Sharad Pawar at the Baramati hostel on Thursday morning. Pawar was in the city to attend a seminar organised by the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan and Narubhau Limaye Prathisthan.

When contacted, Leader of the House in the PMC and PVA corporator Chandrakant Chhajed dismissed the speculation as baseless and said that it was not necessary that a meeting with Pawar would mean crossing over to the Congress camp. When Anjani Nimhan was contacted, she told The Indian Express that she met Pawar today to extend an invitation for a family function. However she did not rule out the possibility of joining the Congress in the near future.

It may be recalled that several months ago some 11 PVA corporators had met the senior Congress leader at former Mayor Vandana Chavan8217;s residence and crossed over to the party.