Newly elected MCA president says MCA bigwigs' rivalry notwithstanding, their commitment and integrity is unmatched
Sharad Pawar, who was elected unopposed as the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president yesterday, put to rest speculation that he harbours intentions of returning to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) of which he was the president between 2005-2008.
Newly-elected Mumbai Cricket Association chief Sharad Pawar
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“Basically I have no time for the BCCI. I might attend meetings but not for any official (posts). I want to do something for my home,” Pawar said. Pawar, who was MCA president from 2001 to 2011, said he intends to contribute more to Mumbai cricket now. “My aim is to promote and spread cricket in Mumbai further. We have to groom more talent. We have acquired a new piece of land in the eastern suburbs.u00a0
And we are also trying to acquire a plot of land between Mulund and Bhandup. With five facilities that will soon open up, it will provide opportunities for young cricketers to hone their skills,” Pawar said.u00a0The heated Annual General Meeting where the rivalry between Prof Ratnakar Shetty and Ravi Savant was out in the open may have disheartened Pawar. But the veteran politician was confident of handling them. “These two members were working with me for 10 years.
They are very committed to cricket. They are honest. Their integrity is above all. The only question was how to handle them. Now that I am back, I will handle them,” said Pawar.u00a0Meanwhile, it was once again the ruling Bal Mahaddalkar group that managed to get the majority. From the newly-formed Cricket First panel, four members were elected in the 17-memberu00a0committee.
Prof Ratnakar Shetty and Ravi Savant
Ravi Savant (159 votes), the sitting president, along with the sitting vice-president Vijay Patil (190) pipped Pankaj Thakur (146) of Prof Ratnakar Shetty’s panel for the two u00a0vice-presidents’ post.u00a0For the honorary treasurer’s post, Vinod Deshpande (162) beat sitting treasurer Mayank Khandwala (153). Sitting joint honorary secretaries Nitin Dalal (169) and Dr PV Shetty (203) (Bal Mahaddalkar group) retained their posts, beating Dr Unmesh Khanvilkar (143) and Pravin Barve (49).
Nadim Memon, Deepak Patil, Lalchand Rajput, Arvind Kadam, Abey Kuruvilla, Sanjay Patil, Ramesh Vazge, Armaan Malik, Srikant Tigdi, Naveen Shetty and Deepak Murkar were elected to the 11-member managing committee, u00a0The new committee includes two former international cricketers — Rajput and Kuruvilla. u00a0
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