Former Congress leader and Union Minister Suresh Kalmadi passed away in Pune on Monday at the age of 81. He was the president of the Indian Olympic Association and was embroiled in the Commonwealth Games scam in 2010. As a former Congress leader, he was the Minister of State for Railways.
Many know him as a pilot, a sports and culture enthusiast. But very few know that he was the Railways Minister when Mumbai’s iconic Victoria Terminus was renamed as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in the year 1996. And fewer still know that he was the man who brought the golden era of Congress in Pune’s local elections.
Born in erstwhile Madras in the pre-independence period in 1944, he did his schooling in Pune, which became home for the Kalmadi family thereafter. His parents hailed from Mangalore. He could speak several languages fluently, including Konkani, Kannada, Marathi, English, Hindi and Tulu. He was known to be a good administrator who worked to build a strong organisational structure of Congress in Pune.
Then Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sharad Pawar, and the Congress (I) MP, Suresh Kalmadi, studying the election results at the former's residence in Bombay.
He represented Pune in Lok Sabha for several terms, and was known for his preference for a high-profile lifestyle. Like Rajiv Gandhi, he was also a pilot before entering politics. He was known to share a good rapport with him then. He weathered many changes in national and local politics in a political career which spanned close to five decades starting from the 1970s. At one time, he was known to be close to Sharad Pawar, and the duo strengthened the Congress in Pune.
