What’s cooking on the Ganguly front?
The plot is getting more and more interesting. After the drama over his BCCI exit and the whispers that he is unlikely to get the board’s backing for the ICC chairmanship, came the news that Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has got into the thick of things.
It’s well known that Didi, as she is popularly called, has always had a soft spot for Dada, which is how Ganguly is known to his legions of fans and even fellow players. Even when there was a strong drift about his joining the BJP, their relationship always remained on a solid wicket.
And now, sources say, that the chief minister has directly requested Prime Minister Modi to intervene and ask BCCI to back Ganguly for the coveted ICC post, which would make him the head of world cricket for a period of at least three years (the chairman’s tenure, unless extended).
If it so happens, he would follow in the footsteps of N Srinivasan and Shashank Manohar. Earlier, Sharad Pawar and Jagmohan Dalmiya (the man who, as CAB head, had a big hand in ensuring Ganguly got into team India, overcoming prejudices about players from the state being good enough to represent the country) have been presidents, when the chairman’s post did not exist.
However, for that to happen, the PM’s intervention has become necessary. Of course, the issue is about a sport but we all know how closely connected it is to politics.
In fact, Ganguly’s elevation into BCCI presidency happened, as is widely known by now, with the active backing of the BJP, especially Amit Shah, the party’s wheeler-dealer-in-chief, on the tacit ‘understanding’ that the Maharaja of Kolkata would join the saffron brigade.
But that did not happen. It has now come to light, via credible sources, that Ganguly had gone to meet Amit Shah to get the job originally, in 2019. And the latter had happily acquiesced, seeing in him the making of a future trump card for his party.
The 2021 Bengal elections came and went, though, and nothing happened, despite all the hype pumped up. The former India captain remained steadfast in his aim of maintaining a balance, possibly having better and different aims, and wanting the political backing to just fulfil his aims. A hurt Shah, and by extension, BJP, however, would, seemingly, have none of it.
The first act of ‘dissent’, so to say, on Ganguly’s part, as seen when he ‘fell sick’ and missed Modi’s rally in March last year, in the run-up to the state elections. Then, Shah came to Kolkata for an inauguration last May and had dinner, along with his party’s Bengal bigwigs, at Ganguly’s house. This was apparently meant to convince him to come on board. Again, he refused to take the bait. This was, apparently, the last straw, say party sources.
Then, as if to add insult to injury—which is, reportedly, how BJP saw it—Ganguly attended Mamata Banerjee’s rally in Kolkata, held to acknowledge UNESCO’s recognition of Durga Puja in Kolkata, and even left together with her in her car.
This is the story till now. Of course, there were some serious misgivings against Ganguly, from former administrators as well as from some players, regarding certain decisions he made during his tenure as BCCI head. But these are generally thought to have taken the back seat—even though BCCI sources deny it—in the board’s decision to deny him a second term, considering the fact that all the top BCCI jobs have all gone to those close to BJP.
The latest rumour is that Dada is apparently willing to return to CAB as president, the previous term being his Launchpad to the BCCI top job.
Jay Shah, Amit Shah’s son, has got a second term as BCCI secretary. Vice-president Rajiv Shukla has retained his seat; he is a Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh, and who has, for a long time, played a fine balancing act in the board. Treasurer Ashish Shelar is a BJP MLA from Maharashtra and the party’s chief whip in the assembly. Joint Secretary Devjit Saikia is close to Assam’s BJP CM, Himanta Biswa Sarma. The treasurer in the last term, Arun Dhumal, younger brother of Union minister Anurag Thakur and grandson of former chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Prem Kumar Dhumal, has got the plum post of IPL president.
So, what is it going to be for Dada? ICC chairman or CAB president? More drama is in the offing, for sure.
