Rahul Gandhi to steer clear of stained Kalmadi at rally today

After drawing a lot of criticism for sharing stage with Ashok Chavan the scamtainted former chief minister from his party who was subsequently allotting candidature Congress vicepresident Rahul Gandhi has made sure to keep Suresh Kalmadi embroiled in the Commonwealth Games scam at a safe distanceMP Suresh KalmadiThe sitting MP and suspended Congressman is not invited for Gandhirsquos election rally today in the cityCongress leaders have made it clear that there is no question of his presence at the event a situation that has arisen after roughly 10 yearsTwo days to polls Preparations under way for the rally at the AISSMS college ground on the final day of campaigning in the city PicMohan PatilAfter BJPrsquos prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modirsquos crowdpuller of a rally last Saturday Congress has set a target of gathering at least 50000 people for Gandhirsquos rally scheduled on the last day of election campaigning at the ground of AISSMS College near the RTO on Sassoon RoadRahul Gandhi with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and sister Priyanka Vadra in Amethi on April 12 Rahul is contesting from the Congress bastion PicEPA Congress MLC Mohan Joshi who is looking after the rally arrangements confirmed that Kalmadi hasnrsquot been invited for the rally and he would not make an appearanceWinds of change Preparations under way at AISSMS for the rally the first major one in a decade from which Kalmadi would be missing PicMohan PatilHe also said ldquoWe are expecting more that 50000 peoplerdquo Referring to Modirsquos rally he said ldquoIt was a joint rally of all four candidates contesting elections from four constituencies in the Pune district But Rahulji is coming specially to address the people for Congressrsquo Pune city candidate Vishwajeet KadamrdquoAnother party leader Ulhas Pawar said ldquoI think that since Kalmadi has been suspended from the party he will not come for the rallyrdquoMeanwhile after failing to grab the Lok Sabha candidature for himself or his wife and subsequent threats that he would contest the general elections independently Kalmadi finally extended his support to Kadam It seems that his supporters who are currently campaigning for Kadam are also involved in preparations for the rallyA close aide of Kalmadirsquos MLA Ramesh Bagwe told midday ldquoIf he appears on the stage he will be targeted by the media So although he is supporting Kadam he prefers to remain out of limelightrdquoHe however added ldquoAmid all this campaigning I am certainly missing my leader Kalmadi under whose guidance I entered politics All my party workers are involved in rally preparations and we will make it a successful onerdquoBagwersquos son Avinash who is a city corporator is busy mobilising a sizeable crowd at the rally ground from the Cantonment area which is his fatherrsquos constituency Avinash Bagwe said ldquoThere is no confusion in party workersrsquo minds over Kalmadirsquos absence at the rally as everyone knows the reason for itrdquoBJPrsquos election coordinator Ganesh Bidkar said ldquoBefore making claims of gathering a huge crowd Congress should first check the limited space of the ground they have finalised for Rahulrsquos rally We placed 60000 chairs for Modirsquos rally held last week and including the entire crowd the number of people who attended the number goes to up 90000rdquoHe added ldquoBy giving candidature to Ashok Chavan Rahul Gandhi has already proved the difference between his action and words Kalmadi is also his ally Whether he is physically present or not makes no differencerdquo