Cricket and politics are inextricably linked in India and often they become a vehicle for people involved in one to make space or consolidate their position in the other. For Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot, keeping hold of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) presidency is a way to remain in the public eye and keep his fledgling political career going. Vaibhav unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Jodhpur, a constituency from where his father has been a five-time MP. He filed his nomination for the December 24 election on Tuesday. If he manages to retain the post, it will help him spruce up his political resume. Under Vaibhav’s presidency, the RCA completed the renovation of the Barkatullah Khan stadium in Jodhpur and his father inaugurated the refurbished stadium in September. The political messaging was clear — despite losing the Lok Sabha elections from the constituency, Vaibhav was working for the development of Jodhpur. He has also laid the foundation of a state-of-the-art cricket stadium in Jaipur. Moreover, it was during Vaibhav’s tenure that the first international cricket match in eight years was held in Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium. The RCA’s proximity to power and politics has remained a constant throughout the years. Though Jaipur did not host a single international match before Vaibhav’s tenure, the RCA was never out of the news for long, primarily because of its past ties with former Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Lalit Modi. Both Modi, a former RCA president, and current Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi are Vaibhav’s predecessors of Vaibhav and have headed the RCA for multiple terms. Modi, who was once close to former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje on account of being a family friend, enjoyed a lot of power during his tenure as the cricket association’s president between 2005 and 2009, a period that also coincided with Raje’s first chief ministerial term. According to politicians and bureaucrats from that time, Modi often had a say on matters not even related to cricket, and even top officials dared not to rub him the wrong way due to his proximity to the CM. The Congress has in the past constantly attacked Raje over her connections with Modi, accusing the latter of abusing power during her tenure. Soon after the Gehlot-led Congress government came to power at the end of 2008, Modi’s clout in the RCA weakened. At first, he lost the president’s post in an election to bureaucrat Sanjay Dixit. Later, CP Joshi defeated Modi in the RCA presidential election. Subsequently, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) banned Modi and government agencies started probing him for alleged financial irregularities. However, he managed to once again be elected as the RCA president in 2014, which led to the BCCI banning the RCA. The Modi era in the RCA came to an end in 2017 when Joshi once again got elected RCA president by defeating Modi’s son Ruchir. With Modi presently living abroad, in 2019, Joshi, who was once Gehlot’s rival, helped Vaibhav win the RCA presidential election by throwing his weight behind the CM’s son.
