Pune: Former Union Minister Suresh Kalmadi passes away at 81

Pune, 6th January 2026: Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Suresh Kalmadi passed away early on Tuesday (January 6, 2026) in Pune following a prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 81.

Kalmadi had served as Minister of State for Railways and was a former president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). A prominent political figure from Pune, he represented the city several times in the Lok Sabha and held multiple key positions during his long public career. He was also closely associated with sports administration at the national and international levels.

He is survived by his wife, son and daughter-in-law, two married daughters and a son-in-law, and grandchildren. His mortal remains will be kept at Kalmadi House in the Erandwane area till 2 p.m., following which the last rites will be performed at Vaikunth crematorium in Navi Peth at 3.30 p.m., sources said.

Kalmadi began his political journey in 1977 as president of the Pune unit of the Indian Youth Congress. A year later, he was appointed president of the Maharashtra Youth Congress, a post he held until 1980.

In 1980, he took charge as president of the Maharashtra Athletics Association. During his tenure, Pune hosted selection trials for Indian athletes ahead of the Moscow Olympics. Kalmadi later entered Parliament as a Rajya Sabha member in 1982 and went on to serve three additional terms in the Upper House.

In 1996, he was elected to the Lok Sabha during the tenure of former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and served as Minister of State for Railways from 1995 to 1996.

Kalmadi assumed charge as president of the Indian Olympic Association in 1996, a position he held until 2012. He also served as president of the Asian Athletics Association from 2000 to 2013 and was named its Life President in 2015.

However, his career was overshadowed by controversy following the 2010 Commonwealth Games, after allegations of large-scale irregularities in the organisation of the event surfaced. In April 2011, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested Kalmadi, then chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, in the Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) case on charges of criminal conspiracy and cheating. He spent around 10 months in Tihar jail.

Following the scandal, Kalmadi was suspended from the Indian National Congress and removed from his post as IOA president.