“I had gone to receive Kalmadi saheb at the airport, just to give him moral support. However, I am an honest worker of the Congress party,” said Congress MLA Ramesh Bagwe, a known supporter of the outgoing Pune MP. However, Bagwe chose to keep mum on the query raised by mid-day, on whether or not he would support the party’s candidate for the constituency Vishwajeet Kadam.

Flower power: Suresh Kalmadi arrives in Pune from Delhi yesterday. Pic/Mohan Patil

Close to 200 Kalmadi supporters, including some Congress office bearers, were in attendance at Pune airport to receive the leader and his wife Meera, who returned from Delhi yesterday. “We all have an old association with him (Kalmadi), and it was just for showing solidarity, as he didn’t get the ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha election,” Bagwe added. Kalmadi, however, refrained from speaking to the media.