Pawar faces a mid-term election

MUMBAI, September 24: It's election time again for Sharad Pawar, Maratha strongman and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, though ...

MUMBAI, September 24: It8217;s election time again for Sharad Pawar, Maratha strongman and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, though this time it is not Baramati which has to choose him. He is seeking a second term as the president of the Garware Club House 8211; one of the premier clubs in the country. Located in Wankhede stadium on 10 acres of prime land, the club has reserves of over Rs 11 crore and its membership fee alone is a cool Rs 2.5 lakh.

And even if the election means little to the city, the war is sought to be played out in full public view. The media has been inundated by letters, faxes, charges and counter charges between the two groups standing in direct confrontation. There is the Progressive Group, a newly formed anti-establishment panel and the established ones who have been on the managing committee for the past eight years, without elections, and who call themselves the Sharad Pawar Panel.

The first complaint of the anti-establishment group is that Pawar, busy with his politics, hasno time for the Club. Even now the Congress leader is reportedly in South Africa and is slated to be in the city for the elections tomorrow. 8220;Never once has he attended any of the meetings of the club,8221; says Jayant Ghelani, a member of the Progressive Group. The abysmal state of the running of the Club seems to be the reason for Ghelani8217;s open call for a change. He cites corruption, nepotism, mismanagement, bad administration as the assets of this management committee. Ghelani claims his group has supporters in 70 to 80 per cent of the members. Their victories, he claims, include a defeat8217; of the audited balance sheets of the Club presented in the AGM of 1997. The Progressive Group had also forced the managing committee to reduce the admission fees for children from Rs 1.25 lakh to Rs 62,500.

Their manifesto now promises a cleaner, more transparent administration. 8220;It was only after we created a furore that the committee accepted our demand to have the complimentary tickets given by the Mumbai CricketAssociation MCA distributed by a computerised distribution system,8221; says Ghelani.

Cricket plays a significant role in the Club. It has been engaged in a running litigation with MCA on its existence, its rights and its property limits. While the MCA has been insisting that the Club is only an extension of it, the club8217;s managing committee has proclaimed independence. MCA officials claim the association has been unable to use the facilities given to the Club, while at the same time has had to shell out Rs 15 to Rs 16 lakh to fight the case.

The ten-year-old case is now under arbitration of Justice Lentin and the Sharad Pawar panel would like to be re-elected if only to fight the case out. 8220;We are the ones who have pursued the matter and we have a clear understanding of the issue. We have discussed it with our solicitors who have told us to be there for the case. If this matter were not around, Pawar would have been the first person to step down,8221; says Surendra Savai, presently a managing committeemember and running for a second term.Amarnath Kamath does not think Pawar would have done so. A known Pawar baiter, he is contesting against Pawar for the presidency for the second time in a row. The last time was in 1990 when he won 25 per cent of the votes. 8220;That was a moral defeat for the man who was the sitting chief minister at that time,8221; says Kamath.

Though he is in the running independently8217;, he is expected to be backed by the Progressive Group. 8220;It is a moral fight that I have undertaken against this desire of politicians to have their finger in every pie. I have nothing personally against Pawar, I wish him well. Let him run for the prime ministership,8221; he says.

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Savai, though is upbeat. 8220;Let the opposition come to us with proof of any mismanagement, and we shall quit,8221; he says, countering that all the charges of the Progressive Group were electoral issues8217;.

And as the Pawar panel banks on the big names on its panel like Sudhir Joshi, education minister of Maharashtra, members likeindustrialists Rahul Bajaj and film distributor Bharat Shah have a hard decision to make.