Pune: Vociferous Congress activists
belonging to the anti-Suresh Kalmadi faction blackened the
face of the tainted MP`s image before tearing down his poster
here in an act that said it all.
The ransacking of Kalmadi`s cabin in the Congress Bhavan
by his own party men after his arrest in the Commonwealth
Games scam and subsequent suspension Monday night, symbolised
the fall from grace of one of the most high profile MPs, who
represented the city thrice in the Lok Sabha, apart from
serving four Rajya Sabha terms in the last three decades.
"It was a spontaneous reaction of Congress workers in the
city staging a protest against a corrupt person suspended by
the party which has zero tolerance for corruption in public
life," said MLC Mohan Joshi, a prominent city Congress leader.
Joshi has been locked in a long political rivalry with
Kalmadi after failing to get a party ticket to contest the Lok
Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009.
Opposition parties including the BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS
too staged protest demonstrations condemning Kalmadi for
"tarnishing" the image of Pune which he represented in the
Parliament.
"Suresh Kalmadi, resign. We are ashamed of you", said a
hoarding displayed by BJP corporators demanding Kalmadi`s
resignation as MP.
PTI
