Shiv Sena-backed Vijay Patil bidding to end Sharad Pawar's reign at MCA

Backed strongly by the Shiv Sena, which has fielded its own candidates, Vijay Patil is bidding to dethrone NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and wrest control of the Mumbai Cricket Association at its polls here tomorrow. The straight contest between incumbent president Pawar and Patil, who was one of the two VPs under the former in the outgoing regime, has evoked strong response from the cricket circles with both parties wooing the 300-odd voting clubs and gymkhanas by throwing lavish dinner parties. [caption id=“attachment_2298066” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File picture of Sharad Pawar. PTI[/caption] Patil threw down the gauntlet by asking Pawar to withdraw from the contest and bless his ‘Cricket First’ panel at the first dinner party hosted as a prelude. Pawar responded by saying he would probably not have contested had Patil given an undertaking that international and IPL games allotted to MCA would not be hijacked to his (Patil’s) D Y Patil Sports Academy Stadium in Navi Mumbai. Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray came out in open support of Patil at a dinner party hosted by the panel last night. He lashed out at Pawar saying while cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar have retired, Pawar is still all set to bat with his pads on while his score has been zero despite a long reign at the helm of MCA. The war of words between the two rival groups has spiced up the biennial elections in which former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar is contesting for one of the two vice president’s posts as part of the Pawar-Mahaddalkar ensemble. ‘Cricket First’ group has fielded former Test cricketers Abey Kuruvilla, Lalchand Rajput and Pravin Amre as candidates. BJP MLA Ashish Shelar and Vengsarkar are the two contestants from the Pawar panel who are vying to become the new VPs while Kuruvilla and Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik are lined up against them as part of the ‘Cricket First’ group. Sena MP Rahul Shewale is contesting from the Patil-headed group for the eleven-member managing committee. Pawar headed MCA for ten years, from 2001-2011, before handing over the reins to fellow-politician Vilasrao Deshmukh whose untimely death in August 2012 enabled Ravi Savant to become the interim president before Pawar was elected unopposed as president at the last elections. PTI