UNDER CRITICISM from BJP for alleged corruption in organising Commonwealth Games in the past, former Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi received praise from Union minister Nitin Gadkari and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for playing a major role in conserving the art and culture of the state through the Pune Festival.
The 34th edition of the Pune Festival, an initiative of Kalmadi, saw BJP leaders turning up in large numbers with Gadkari and Fadnavis inaugurating it. The BJP leaders, including the local unit, had deliberately kept a distance from the Pune Festival till now saying it was an event by a tainted Congress leader.
Inaugurating 34th Pune Festival 2022 https://t.co/3jvmBWar4b
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) September 2, 2022
However, this year, city BJP MP Girish Bapat, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale and MP Hema Malini, who is also the patron of the Pune Festival, were on the dais along with Gadkari and Fadnavis seated on both sides of Kalmadi. Kalmadi is the president of the organising committee of the Pune Festival.
Hema Malini also performed at the inaugural function.
BJP legislators Madhuri Misal, Bhimrao Tapkir, Sunil Kamble, former legislator Medha Kulkarni as well as city BJP chief Jagdish Mulik, former mayor Murlidhar Mohol and a few former BJP corporators also attended the function.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders Ramesh Bagawe, Abhay Chhajed and Ulhas Bagul, who are known to be close to Kalmadi, attended the function but were seated separately from BJP leaders.
“The Pune Festival organised by Kalmadi is an excellent event that conserves culture and art and encourages people from all fields. It has made it to the international level and I congratulate Kalmadi for it. We thank him for holding such an event,” Gadkari said praising Kalmadi for holding the event consistently for 34 years. The Pune Festival is a golden leaf in the history of the city, he added.
The Union minister said that though he and Fadnavis are from Nagpur they would never ignore the development of Pune and have been working towards the overall growth of the city.
Fadnavis admitted he was invited to Pune Festival by Kalmadi during his tenure as chief minister. “I was invited by Kalmadi in the past when I was the CM. I had started for it and by the time I reached, I became deputy CM. I have taken permission to leave early for attending other functions or it will not take time for me to get demoted to a mere minister or an MLA,” Fadnavis said jokingly.
He said there is a political biodata for everyone in politics. “My biodata would have been incomplete without attending the Pune Festival. I am thankful to Kalmadi that it is complete now,” Fadnavis said, adding that the festival is known to give on-the-spot appreciation and recognition to the artists performing there. “Those displaying their art at festival become successful.”
Earlier, Kalmadi termed Gadkari as the best performing Union minister and Fadanavis as the young deputy CM of the state. “I had invited
Fadanavis when he was CM but he could not come. I am happy that now he has been able to come,” he said.
State Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha and Pune Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil were absent from the function despite being invited to it.
The local BJP unit had in the past gone all out against Kalmadi after he faced allegations of financial misappropriation during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
