Sharad Pawar, BJP leader come together for Mumbai cricket body polls

MUMBAI:  NCP chief Sharad Pawar and BJP leader Ashish Shelar may be divided by political ideology, but they seem to be bound by their love for the sport. Both Pawar and Shelar have come together in a joint panel to fight the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) elections against former Indian cricketer Sandeep Patil. The elections are scheduled to be held on Oct 20.

Shelar has thrown in the hat for the presidential poll against Patil. It is after 11 years that elections will be held for the post between a politician and a former Indian cricketer. In 2011, former Indian skipper Dilip Vengsarkar had lost the elections to former Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh.

From the Pawar-Shelar panel, Ajinkya Rane is contesting for the secretary’s post while Arman Mallik is in the fray for the treasurer’s position. NCP MLA and ex-minister Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena leader Milind Narvekar have also filed their nominations for the apex council membership from the Pawar-Shelar camp.Sources said that Amol Kale, who is a close associate of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, is also eyeing the president’s post.

“Kale was even doing lobbying with Devendra Fadnavis’ help but the Supreme Court ruling allowing MLA and MPs to contest the cricket board office bearers elections pushed him back while Shelar announced his candidature with Sharad Pawar’s help. So Pawar and Shelar came together to corner Fadnavis’ possible presidential candidate,” a source said.

Pawar and Shelar share a cordial relationship. “In 2011, Shelar became the MCA vice president with the help of Pawar. A senior NCP leader was going to file his nomination, but after the BJP leader’s call, Pawar dropped his party person and included Shelar in his panel, making him MCA VP,” a BJP leader said.