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Jubilant Kalmadi vows to clip Sharad Pawar's wings

In politics there are no permanent friends, only permanent interests.

Look at the relationship between Suresh Kalmadi and his political mentor Sharad Pawar. The same Kalmadi, who during Narasimha Rao's tenure as prime minister played many a cloak-and-dagger games to lobby for the Maratha strongman, has now taken a vow to clip Pawar's political clout at the state and national level.

Kalmadi has already split the Congress in the Pune Municipal Corporation, though many councilors later expressed their desire to rejoin the parent party.

He will soon launch a statewide drive to contact anti-Pawar leaders to reduce Pawar's stature in the state. The former IAF pilot, who left the services to plunge into politics, was confident that by the 2000 assembly election, his Aghadi will emerge as a strong political force now that the Election Commission has recognised it as a political entity.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi, whose genesis can be traced back to Pune, will be headquartered in Bombay, says Kalmadi.

To checkmate Pawar's growing political clout amongst other parties, Kalmadi has maintained contacts with Samajwadi Party and Republican Party of India leaders. If all goes well, he will soon play a significant role in Maharashtra politics with the emergence of the third force, which Kalmadi is endeavouring to forge desperately. Thursday's recent Rajya Sabha victory will further give fillip to his efforts, says a confident Kalmadi.

Even if Kalmadi spews venom against Pawar now, his real bete noire is Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar. "I have no personal enmity against Sharad Pawar; I have consistently lobbied for his interests at the state and national level, but looking at the way he tried to destroy my political career during the Lok Sabha election and now during the Rajya Sabha election, I have no alternative left but to pay him in his own currency," Kalmadi said with a trace of bitterness in his voice.

Lamenting Pawar's interference in mundane affairs at the state and district level, Kalmadi observed it does not behove well for a man of Pawar's stature to meddle in local affairs. "Sharad Pawar has failed to read this and I wonder if he ever will. He is not prepared to give need-based freedom to leaders at the local level," said Kalmadi criticising Ajit Pawar's influence over his uncle in decision-making. "If this nature continues, I wonder for how long Pawar will remain in national politics," he says.

Kalmadi holds Ajit Pawar as the reason for the widening chasm between Sharad Pawar and himself. Says he: "On many occasions, I pointed out Ajit's growing interference in party politics to Sharad Pawar. But he was blinded by his love for this nephew. Once upon a time, we supported Sharad Pawar as he raised his voice against dynastic rule in the higher echelons of the Congress. Since he is trying to perpetrate the same dynastic rule in Maharashtra, we have to stand up and oppose him. That's the only alternative we have."

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