Differences within the Congress do not seem to die down. A day after the party headquarters witnessed a show of strength from various factions, party representatives in various local civic bodies extended their support to sitting Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.

In an effort to seek opinion of the elected representatives at various local bodies in the constituency, the city Congress unit had organised a meeting. Forty out of the total 43 party corporators in PMC, 5 from the Khadki Cantonment Board and 7 from Pune Cantonment Board attended the meeting, along with two MLAs Ramesh Bagawe and Chandrakant Chhajed.

However, none of those from the anti-Kalmadi camp, consisting of MLA Balasaheb Shivarkar, MLC Mohan Joshi, MLC Ulhas Pawar and party spokesperson Anant Gadgil, attended the meeting.

“All those who attended the meeting unanimously extended their support to the candidature of Kalmadi. The various wings like students and women’s wing also have expressed their solidarity with Kalmadi,” city Congress chief Abhay Chhajed said after the meeting.

The anti-Kalmadi camp has been aggressive against the sitting MP and raised slogans against him at candidates interview held in party office.