Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi arrived here to interact with district level to block level party leaders from the state.
Rahul arrived last night from Nagpur where he had done a similar exercise on Tuesday. In the morning, Rahul interacted with office bearers from Pune district, Konkan and Western Maharashtra. MP Suresh Kalmadi, who is under suspension for being accused in the CWG scam was conspicuous by his absence.
Sources said that Kalmadi had been given instructions to not attend the meeting with Rahul. However over a dozen supporters of Kalmadi tendered a memorandum seeking the revoking of his suspension. Both the Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and State Congress chief Manikrao Thakare are giving Rahul company during his stay in the state.
According to Congress leader Anant Gadgil, among the grievances of the party leaders was to do with the problems with alliance partner (Nationalist Congress Party). “Rahulji said that functioning in an alliance has its drawbacks. However he said that if they do not want the same problem to recur, then they should ensure that Congress wins 272 plus seats in the next Lok Sabha polls,” said Gadgil.