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ShareMumbai: The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) elections have become spicier. On Friday, the former state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh threw his hat in the MCA ring, filing his nomination for a vice-president's post. He has taken the plunge into the elections from Sharad Pawar's panel. Pawar, meanwhile, was elected president unopposed for a fifth two-year term.
Deshmukh's panelmate for the second vice-president's post will be former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar. They face the challenge from former MCA managing committee members Shripad Halbe and Pravin Barve. Both Deshmukh and Vengsarkar can hope to win the election as the ruling Pawar lobby is known to be very strong. The elections will be held on July 10.
The political connotations in Deshmukh's decision to fight the MCA election cannot be ignored. What's interesting is the union minister's decision to sail with Pawar rather than against him. The striking feature is that the two heavyweights of the state, both former chief ministers and current union ministers, are on the same side. Deshmukh could not be contacted.
The big fight in the election will be for the treasurer's post. Ravi Sawant, vice-president till recently, has filed his papers against incumbent treasurer Prof Ratnakar Shetty.
Shetty, the chief administrative officer of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is the nominee from the Pawar faction.
Sawant said he would announce his panel soon. "I haven't formed my own group. I will do that after nominations are scrutinised. I already have supporters in the managing committee," he told DNA.
Another interesting candidate in the election is former India cricketer and coach Lalchand Rajput. He has filed his nomination for the post of joint secretary as an independent candidate. A former secretary himself, Rajput faces contest from Pawar panel candidates Hemant Waingankar and Dr PV Shetty. There are 16 candidates for the 11 managing committee members' posts.
