NEW DELHI: Union agriculture minister and former ICC and BCCI president Sharad pawer on Monday said the faith of cricket lovers has been shaken due to the spot-fixing incidents in the IPL matches and sought “ruthless action” against the guilty that brought a bad name to the game.
Although he expressed satisfaction that some action has been taken against certain players by imposing life ban on them, he, during a conversation with the TOI, stressed that there was a need to send strong message not only to the players but also to the cricket administrators. The minister, however, preferred not to take any name. Pawar also hinted that he would contest the next month’s election for the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), a post that he had held for a number of years before moving to the BCCI as its chief and eventually to the ICC. But, he claimed, if he would contest, it would be for the sake of cricket as he wanted to do more for the cricket lovers by creating additional infrastructure. The hint that he is throwing his hat in the MCA ring comes at a time when there has also been a strong buzz about the possibility of Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan as being one of the contestants. The name of yet another politician – BJP’s Gopinath Munde – is also doing the rounds. Although sources dismissed the possibility of Chavan as a possible candidate in the October election citing many rules of the MCA, Pawar preferred not to touch the issue. Without going into who could be the contender for the post, Pawar said that the city during his tenure as the MCA president had seen lot of infrastructural development and therefore people wanted him to be there again.
“I was there for 10 years as a president. In my regime, we have constructed basic infrastructure at the Bandra Kurla club at the cost of nearly Rs 100 crore…Two major clubs had been set up with investment of about Rs 200 to 250 crore. The Wankhede stadium was totally renovated. We have constructed office for the MCA and BCCI”, he said. Pawar emphasized that many people have been telling him that Mumbai needs two-three more grounds. “After Wankhede, not a single thing was added. So, I am just thinking whether I should again serve the institutions which have given me tremendous support in the area of cricket”, said Pawar. While Pawar, always a man of few words, may not talk about it, the possible impact of his MCA foray on BCCI boardroom in these turbulent times cannot be overstated. Pawar’s return to cricket administration will not be music to present BCCI president N Srinivasan’s camp. Srinivasan has been waging a grim battle to survive in his chair and keep complete control of the board ever as the fallout of the IPL fixing scam threatens to singe him too. In this scenario, the resourceful and wily Pawar, who is not exactly enamoured of Srinivasan, can only make things more difficult for the latter.
Bureau Report
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