Face numbers and the fundamental group

We resolve a conjecture of Kalai asserting that the $g_2$-number of any simplicial complex $Delta$ that represents a connected normal pseudomanifold of dimension $dgeq 3$ is at least as large as ${d+2 choose 2}m(Delta)$, where $m(Delta)$ denotes the minimum number of generators of the fundamental group of $Delta$. Furthermore, we prove that a weaker bound, $h_2(Delta)geq {d+1 choose 2}m(Delta)$, applies to any $d$-dimensional pure simplicial poset $Delta$ all of whose faces of co-dimension $geq 2$ have connected links. This generalizes a result of Klee. Finally, for a pure relative simplicial poset $Psi$ all of whose vertex links satisfy Serres condition $(S_r)$, we establish lower bounds on $h_1(Psi),ldots,h_r(Psi)$ in terms of the $mu$-numbers introduced by Bagchi and Datta.