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It's war

Faisal Shariff

The Karnataka State Cricket Association elections aren't quite the humdrum stuff you find elsewhere.

In the elections held yesterday, the voters expressed their displeasure by tearing ballot papers and allegedly torching a ballot box too. Secretary C Nagaraj has postponed the elections by at least four weeks.

Nagaraj, who has held the office for the last three decades, has found competition coming from Brajesh Patel, one of the association members.

The Patel camp alleged the elections were rigged and that the whole process was undemocratic, while the Nagaraj group asserted it was the former who had run amuck, forcing the secretary to defer the elections.

According to Syed Kirmani, there was utter chaos at the venue and there were more non-members present inside the polling area than members. He was allegedly upset with the situation, as were other former players Roger Binny and Gundappa Vishwanath.

Members of both groups, when contacted, put the blame squarely on the other.

"What could you expect from a man like Nagaraj? He's a very shrewd man and under no circumstances would he let go of his seat," said Brajesh Patel.

"The elections last night were a farce. Absolute rigging was the order of the day. Ballot papers were available at the car park. There were more outside elements in there than members of the association," he said, adding that instead of a neutral and unbiased returning officer, Ranganathan, a trusted member of the Nagaraj faction, was given charge.

According to him, the nominations from the 230 clubs were not sealed. Nagaraj called the clubs and reportedly asked the office-bearers to change their nomination to people he thought were appropriate, says Patel. He also claimed that accomplices of Nagaraj were at the gate, and they were letting goons in, despite having claimed that identity cards would be checked.

Patel, himself a former national player, says cricket, as a sport to be developed, has taken the backseat. The KSCA is concentrating more on organising matches than improving local infrastructure, which, he says, is stagnating.

"There is no diversion of funds towards developing cricket. District cricket is really rotting. Talent is not allowed to surface in these areas. Financially, these teams need assistance. I am sure funds are being diverted towards other areas," he said.

Why has it taken three decades for players to wake up to the slide?

I've been a member since 1972. These guys froze membership in 1974. Earlier, they had club associates but in 1985, when their children grew up, they offered ordinary associate membership for a fee of Rs 500 and got their kids to become members. There was a malicious intention to keep players out of this association.

If he won the elections, he says he intends to put the focus back on the game.

"There is more to the game than staging international matches," he said. He called for an improvement in infrastructure for local talent to emerge and more focus on league matches.

Within the organisation, he called for a more transparent administration and more accountability from the office-holders.

"I asked at the last meeting for the account books and they just refused to give it... This has been going on for far too long," he said.

He admits that despite all the irregularities he sees, there are still four-five players from Karnataka in the national squad. And it was only because the KSCA has no say in the Board of Control for Cricket in India that there weren't more players in the side.

Asked if that was why Rahul Dravid was given short shrift, he asserted it was.

"His exclusion is not justified. Just because the board and we are at loggerheads, they are getting back at us by not taking our players. Why Rahul alone? Take the example of Sunil Joshi, Dodda Ganesh... After you invest so heavily on the boys, you at least need to test them. What's the point otherwise? We need to be represented in the board of selectors."

Patel said that Dravid was tried at all possible positions and expected to adjust. He was dropped and picked again. "He is bound to be unsure and panicky while he is batting," Patel said. "Tell me, were Gavaskar or Vengsarkar one-day players. No, but they learnt how to cope with the game and did it pretty well."

Getting back to the issue of the election, Patel said his group would lodge a complaint with the Registrar of Societies' on the matter. The BCCI, he said, could not comment on the matter since it was an internal matter.

"They can't take decisions for us. Nor have they pledged support," he said.

Nagaraj was not available for comment and his son spoke to Rediff on the NeT very reluctantly.

"The elections were postponed because the players resorted to vandalism; they burned ballot papers and broke ballot boxes. It was a clear case of sabotage. These guys got jittery when the polling was about to start. It started at 7.45 and was due to end at 8.30, but this Brajesh Patel faction intervened and created chaos," he said. The group, he said, also raised slogans against Nagaraj.

Asked if it weren't time Nagaraj made way for someone younger, he said, "No, not at all. He has vast experience -- see where he has brought the KSCA. We have such great cricketers representing the country. Even the best of politicians are old; does that mean we need to throw them away? Experience plays a major role in administration."

When Patel's charge that the account books weren't shown on demand was brought up, he bristled:

"Look here, mister. The account books are always shown at the general body meeting. It is the prerogative of the managing committee. Seventy-five per cent of the members have to ask for it. It's not a magazine to be shown to every Tom Dick and Harry."