In another setback to Pune CEO Suresh Kalmadi, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has shot down his proposal of handing over the mandate of drawing Pune’s future roadmap to global consultancy major McKinsey & Co.Instead, the CM directed the Pune Municipal Corporation, from the floor of the Assembly in Nagpur on Monday, to go in for competitive bidding to select a consultant. The matter was raised by BJP MLA Girish Bapat and Deshmukh responded by saying he wanted transparency in the procedure.Meanwhile in Pune, Mayor Dipti Chowdhary refused to comment, while municipal commissioner Nitin Kareer made clear his stand. ‘‘We have followed government orders in the past and we will follow them in the future too,’’ he said.McKinsey’s involvement in the process has become uncertain as the company has made its stand clear that it would not participate in any competitive bidding as it had got all assignments in India without floating any tenders. Kalmadi has been pushing McKinsey’s case for the last three years. McKinsey getting the mandate would have required a specific directive from the government as provisions of Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act call for competitive bidding.Incidentally, after Sushilkumar Shinde became the CM, he did issue the necessary directives and a formal proposal was also sent to PMC standing committee. But BJP again put a spoke in its wheels by filing a complaint with the Lokayukta, which recommended a stay.The state government then sought time to file its say before the Lokayukta.Deshmukh and Kalmadi have been rivals since the later took active role in removing Deshmukh from the post of chief minister.
