Less than 24 hours after it was announced that Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan would make his entry into Mumbai cricket administration by becoming a representative of Mazgaon Cricket Club, another political bigwig ufffd Gopinath Munde ufffd revealed his plans of becoming a cricket personality.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader now represents Stylo Cricketers which means he can contest the October 18 Mumbai Cricket Association polls.
Excerpts from an interview:
Gopinath Munde. Pic/Santa Banta
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Why have you decided to be a club representative?
Vilasrao Deshmukh was a very good friend of mine. He asked me to get into the Mumbai Cricket Association earlier, but I wasn’t interested. This time, his supporters came to me and insisted (on my entry). I wanted to fulfil my late friend’s wish, so I decided to represent a club.
Are you contesting the MCA elections?
As of now, I have not decided anything, but I am not interested in the president’s post.
Does this mean you will be Prithviraj Chavan’s ally?
Prithviraj is also coming in through a club of one of Vilasrao’s supporters. I also have many supporters in the MCA, so I can’t say that we are shaking hands with Mr Chavan. We have a political alliance with Shiv Sena. Before I accepted representation, I consulted Uddhav Thackeray and they (Shiv Sena) are happy with my MCA entry.
There is talk that there will be direct opposition to Sharad Pawar…
It’s a media gimmick. I am not against anyone. Cricket is my passion and that’s why I am in MCA. Mr Pawar has been working in MCA since long, but it doesn’t mean that other politicians coming into the MCA are against him. We will not allow cricket in politics and politics in cricket.
What are your plans for the MCA?
We have ideas and plans for the betterment of Mumbai cricket. We are leaders and know how associations suffer to get some facilities. We are trying to get things done for the betterment of the association. We will fight against corruption in MCA as well as in BCCI.u00a0
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