Cong leaders oppose premature launch of LS poll campaign

The Congress leaders in the state have opposed the election campaign launched by party's sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi in Pune.

The Congress leaders in the state have opposed the election campaign launched by party's sitting MP Suresh Kalmadi in Pune as he is yet to be nominated for the Pune seat by the party.

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In his apparent dissent over Kalmadi's 'Sampark Yatra' in a slum colony where he gave election promises, the MPCC spokesman Anantrao Gadgil, without naming Kalmadi, expressed displeasure at the poll drive started by some party leaders even before naming of party candidates by the High Command.

A group of leaders within the party has also asked the High Command to take note of the audacity on part of the sitting Pune MP to flaunt himself as the official nominee ignoring the selection norms.

"We have apprised the high command the party's victory prospects would be bleak if the sitting MP is renominated," Mohan Joshi, an MLC, who himself is an aspirant for the Pune seat, told PTI.

Toeing Joshi's line, Ulhas Pawar, another MLC and a long time associate of former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said, "the manner in which the sitting MP is parading himself gives the impression to the electorate that Congress has officially re-nominated him. This is absolutely wrong."