Buddha takes guard

Though the exact reasons behind Bhattacharjee’s disapproval of Dalmiya never came to the fore, it is generally believed that the Chief Minister became unhappy with the former BCCI president for the role he played during the time Sourav Ganguly was first relieved of his captainship last October and later dropped from the team altogether. It’s no secret that the Chief Minister is very fond of Ganguly and still calls him captain when they two meet.

The obvious speculation goes that Dalmiya did not do his best to save Ganguly from being axed from the team. In fact, people still wonder who leaked to the press that nasty e-mail from coach Greg Chappell to the BCCI about Ganguly last year.

Initially, the CAB elections caught the ruling Marxists sharply divided over the Dalmiya issue. While the Chief Minister rooted for Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee who is pitted against Dalmiya in the CAB elections, former chief minister Jyoti Basu questioned his candidature. ”How can he discharge the duties of the Police Commissioner if he has to handle CAB?” the former chief minister asked.

It was anybody’s guess that Basu was influenced by his longtime loyalist and Sports Minister Subhas Chakrabarty who openly batted for Dalmiya. However at a CPI(M) state secretariat meeting on Friday, Bhattacharjee successfully convinced the party on the issue. “Buddha will see how the CP can handle both the jobs (of CP and CAB president) together,” said Basu at the end of the meeting.

Indications of the Chief Minister’s direct involvement in the CAB elections became evident a month back when Ashok Bhattacharya, state minister for Urban Development, commented that Dalmiya should quit in the interest of Bengal cricket. “Bengal cricket is in doldrums and it needs change,” Bhattacharya said. The Chief Minister’s name directly cropped up when Snehasish Ganguly, elder brother of Saurav and a close confidant of police commissioner Mukherjee, said that all that they were doing had the blessings of Bhattacharjee. Snehasish is also a likely candidate for the post of one of the joint secretaries in the CAB elections.

As Snehasish’s comment came in newspapers on June 20, Bhattacharjee announced that Dalmiya should refrain from contesting the elections and he had asked Sports Minister Subhas Chakrabarty to convey this to the CAB president. Chakrabarty reluctantly delivered the message on June 22 and announced in the Assembly that such a CAB election had never happened before.

Another factor that goes against Dalmiya is the opposition he is facing from former BCCI chief Biswanath Dutta. A veteran, Dutta enjoys immense clout in Kolkata maidan to

influence elections to most of the state sports bodies. A former Dalmiya loyalist, he recently made a volte-face and announced that the CAB needed a change.