No new nominations for turf club’s hot seats in September election; chairman Zavaray Poonawalla exits committee
Eight of the nine men who are currently on the Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) committee will stay in the saddle unopposed. There will be no elections this September 12 at the Mahalaxmi racecourse, as there have been no fresh nominations. Members can expect a tepid Annual General Meet (AGM) contrast to the verbal volleys that have become part of the run-up.
Vivek Jain. File pic
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The only change to the committee is that Zavaray Poonawalla will be quitting as club chairman and committee member. Marketing honcho Vivek Jain is slated to take over as chairman. Poonawalla will be replaced by Milan Luthria.
Says Jain, “The committee is unopposed. Poonawalla has withdrawn so Luthria comes in his place.” While the racecourse buzz is that Jain will take the chair, there is a formal election to the chairmanship (where the nine committee members) elect the chairman post the AGM.
That election, though behind closed doors, is expected to be stormy, given the rifts within the committee. Jain admits, “The committee has become of two factions, and one or the other group has been running the club. As my ‘team’ has the majority, it is expected that I will take the chair.” Acceding that not all in the committee may want him in that chair, Jain says, “Like in Parliament, the majority party decides its leader, when I was chairman earlier (he has been chairman for three terms, 2009, 2010 and 2011 earlier) there were no such factions, I was elected truly unopposed then. Times have changed.”
Reacting to talk that Poonawalla kept the chair ‘warm’ for him for a year, Jain said, “I was to be chairman last year itself, but for a number of reasons offered it to him. Though there was an understanding I would take over again, his decision to withdraw was entirely his and unrelated to the chairmanship.”
For Jain, it has been a very rocky ride; two years ago he was snared in a controversy, where audio tapes were released with his voice trying to 'fix’ a jockey in a doping case, just on the eve of a stormy election.
Jain reacts, “My detractors always need a reason to snare me into a controversy, and try to bring me down. Yet I have been No 1 in the elections for 12 years, the highest ever by any member in the club.” Agreeing that he will need to hammer out consensus on issues in the committee room, he says he is ready to meet problems like lease (needs to be renewed) and falling finances head on.
Khushroo Dhunjibhoy former RWITC chairman, who had won the chairmanship in 2014 in a bitter contest said, “I will not be contesting for chairmanship, I do not have the time now.” Ditto said Jaydev Mody, committee member who says he does not “have time” to contest chairmanship.
Asked specifically about whether Jain taking the chair would be seen as a “divisive figure” in the committee room, Mody said, “not at all. In fact, Poonawalla leaving is significant but overall there has been very little change in the committee through the years.”
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