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Meanwhile in Delhi

The most enduring spat in Maharashtra politics, the Sharad Pawar versus Suresh Kalmadi battle, may explode next in the world of sports. It looks like Pawar’s Man Friday, Praful Patel, is getting ready to challenge Kalmadi for the post of Indian Olympic Association president, elections for which are due in October next year. Pawar and Kalmadi have old scores to settle, which adds spice to the upcoming contest. The last round went to Pawar when he skillfully outmanouvered Kalmadi and got the NCP nominee elected as mayor of Pune with the help of the Shiv Sena. Kalmadi’s prestige took a severe knock because his candidate lost despite three days of hectic lobbying. Worse, it marked the end of his undisputed reign in Pune. The buzz in political circles is that Pawar is determined to humble him again, this time in his other fiefdom, the IOA. After more than 10 years and three consecutive terms as president, can Kalmadi hold on to this turf? As they say, into every sport some politics must fall.

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The general assessment is that Kalmadi will find it tough going this time, unlike the previous elections which he won unopposed. He appears to have annoyed the government as well as a section of the Congress with his off-the-cuff, undiplomatic comments about “Mani and money” as the two main causes of his failure to win the bid to host the 2014 Asian Games in India. It was unseemly enough to criticise a Union minister in front of the entire international games fraternity in Kuwait, it was even worse to suggest that the bid was mired in corruption. Apparently, the Koreans as well as members of the Asian Games organising committee protested to Indian diplomats in Kuwait.

Korea pipped India to the bid, not with money, but with cleverer positioning. While the Indian presentation made a pitch for showcasing India, the Koreans talked of showcasing Asia through the city of Incheon. They won hands down.

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No-one is happier than Mani Shankar Aiyar at the turn of events. He and Kalmadi have been slugging it out over the latter’s ambitious plans to turn Delhi into an international games capital. Currently, Aiyar is one up after Kalmadi lost the Asian Games bid which forced him to abandon hopes of pitching for the 2016 Olympic Games. But there’s a black hole looming ahead. Aiyar’s Lok Sabha constituency, Myladuthurai, is about to fall off Parliament’s map in the ongoing delimitation exercise. Myladuthurai is being split and joined to two other constituencies, which leaves Aiyar without a Lok Sabha seat to contest. The question that’s being asked is: who will disappear first? Aiyar from Parliament or Kalmadi from the IOA?

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Did Mulayam Singh Yadav attend the wedding of the year or didn’t he? Delhi is buzzing with speculation because there’s hasn’t been a single television frame or photograph showing the UP chief minister either entering or leaving the Bachchan residence. The grapevine says Yadav was read the riot act by his party leaders who warned him to stay put in UP for the election campaign instead of flying off to Mumbai for a Page 3 event. Not the right image for a Socialist to project at this critical juncture when the party is fighting with its back to the wall. Yadav’s whereabouts on that day are a closely kept secret and no-one’s telling.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net