City

Sabse bada khiladi!

That’s what the crowd outside Pune Airport chanted as former Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi made his way back home. Out on bail in the Commonwealth Games scam, he went straight to Sassoon hospital

Pune Mirror Bureau

Posted On Sunday, February 05, 2012 at 08:59:28 AM

Around 5 pm on Saturday evening a stream of people started to gather at Pune’s Lohegaon Airport. They were mostly Congress candidates and their supporters, who were there to welcome a man who until about a year ago, was the Congress’ favourite Puneite.

Pic: Mahendra Kolhe, Manoj Bidkar

Of course the crowd assembled had placards and banners to welcome Suresh Kalmadi, but there was not a single Congress party flag to be seen among the crowd, the only sign perhaps the city MP is embroiled in the Commonwealth Games scam and is out on bail.

Kalmadi accompanied by Deepak Mankar (L) and Ramesh Bagwe (R) meets Prafulla Nair at Sassoon hospital. Nair is crazed ST driver Santosh Mane’s victim

As the crowd grew in number, the police closed the gates for security purposes and stopped letting people through. When at last Kalmadi did land in the city, it was 6.30pm. To avoid any confusion, the police made Kalmadi exit the airport from the ‘In’ gate where he got into an SUV. As he popped out of the sun roof and waved at the people gathered, chants of ‘Sabse bada khiladi, Suresh Kalmadi’, brought a smile to the tainted politician.


Children with placards welcoming Kalmadi, wait for his flight to land	Congress Corporator Rashid Shaikh (L) with Sudhir Janjot (in a white kurta)

He made his way out of the airport straight to Sassoon General Hospital, where he visited Praffula Nair, who was injured by the bus driven by the berserk Santosh Mane. MLA Ramesh Bagwe, corporator Deepak Mankar and ex-corporator Dutta Sagre accompanied Kalmadi to Sassoon.


Schoolkids from Khadki wearing the T-shirts of KCB Vice President and Congressman Manish Anand	Kalmadi supporters make their way to the airport around 5pm

After receiving a warm welcome, Kalmadi seemed hopeful of joining in the campaign for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections. When asked whether he would participate in the elections, Kalmadi said, “I have been part of the Pune constituency for a long time. I will see,” adding that he would talk about it on Sunday.

Quite a homecoming!

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