Sharad Pawar directs NCP workers not to desert Kalmadi

Lift karade: Suresh Kalmadi, Congress candidate from Pune

Kalmadi, whose renomination has evoked opposition within the Congress, has also been at loggerheads with NCP leader and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar. Ajit, who handles the party affairs in Pune district, has not been seen at election meetings of Kalmadi despite the Congress-NCP alliance in the state.

However, Sharad Pawar who addressed a rally in support of the high-profile sitting MP here last night, said there was a big difference between civic politics and national politics and urged the party workers to work for Kalmadi.

Also, while addressing party functionaries in a closed-door meeting, he expressed his displeasure at non-participation of NCP workers in Kalmadi's campaign, reliable party sources said. Pawar, who reportedly used stern language at the meeting, asked the party functionaries either to campaign in full swing for Kalmadi or step down from their posts, sources said.

The NCP, in a strategy decided by Ajit Pawar in 2007, had kept the Kalmadi-led Congress out of power by aligning with the Shiv Sena- BJP in what was branded as 'Pune Pattern'.

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