Pune/New Delhi:
Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi is slowly getting back into action after his release from prison. Despite attempts by the Congress in Delhi to try and keep a distance from him, Mr Kalamdi's continues to have great clout in his hometown Pune.
Mr Kalmadi was released from Delhi's Tihar Jail on bail in January after he was arrested in April last year. He has been charged with corruption during his high-profile term as head of the committee that organised the Commonwealth Games in India in 2010.
After his release, Mr Kalmadi was first seen flagging off a train to Ahmedabad at the Pune railway station in what was seen as an attempt to rehabilitate himself in Pune. And soon after, he was attending a meeting of Parliament's Defence Consultative Committee in the national capital with top politicians.
Back in public glare, this is being seen as Mr Kalmadi's second innings where he is attempting to erase the past and prepare for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
"It was just a clerical error," said a Congress leader.
Mr Kalmadi did not campaign in the just concluded municipal elections in Pune. His absence led to Congress losing out to the NCP. And now back in his bastion Pune, voices of opposition within the party over Mr Kalmadi's absence are now only growing.
"It's high time the Congress party introspect why it's losing base in Pune city. It has come to the third position in civic body. It's because of the local leadership," said Vinayak Nimhan, Congress MLA from Pune.
However, the Congress so far has not heard these voices from Pune and not shown many signs of bringing Mr Kalmadi back in action.