How Arun Jaitley and others have mixed politics with cricket
The Lalit Modi and Arun Jaitley cases in the IPL and DDCA have shocked a surprised public, who were not aware of the intimate link between cricket and politics, and the huge sums of money involved.
The truth, much of which is in the public domain for those who are interested, is even more shocking. Some examples to show the extreme interest politicians of virtually all political streams have in cricket (or the perks including lucrative contacts):
1) Then chief minister Narendra Modi, BJP was president of the Gujarat Cricket Association from 2009 till 2014.
2) After Modi's term, Amit Shah took over in 2014.
3) Sharad Pawar, NCP became president of the Mumbai Cricket Association again, defeating Vijay Patil of the Shiv Sena in 2014.
4) Lalit Modi headed the Rajasthan Cricket Association, followed by CP Joshi, Congress.
5) Farooq Abdullah, National Conference and former CM of Jammu & Kashmir is president of the J&K Cricket Association, and is currently accused in a case for misappropriation of funds.
6) Rajiv Shukla, Congress was appointed president of the IPL by the BCCI, has been vice president of BCCI thrice, and is part of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association.
7) Then CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, RJD presided over the Bihar Cricket Association, but was charged by the BCA of financial irregularities in July 2012.
8) Anurag Thakur, BJP MP, son of Prem Kumar Dhumal, former CM, presided over the entire Himachal Pradesh sports administration, was a cricket selector at age 26 years, and was also president of the State Rifle Association.
9) Jyotiraditya Scindia, Congress, is chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association. He has recently been appointed head of the BCCI finance committee.
10) Anirudh Chaudhary, president of the Haryana Cricket Association, (grandson of the late Haryana CM Bansi Lal, and son of former president of BCCI, Ranbir Mahendra).
11) Gokaraju Ganga Raju, secretary of the Andhra Cricket Association, BJP and is also vice president, VHP.
12) Amitabh Chaudhary, BJP, former additional DGP; president, Jharkhand Cricket Association.
13) Arun Jaitley, finance minister, BJP. Was long time president of DDCA, resigned in 2013.
From this long multi-party list it is clear that politicians across party lines are very interested in being part of cricket administration. Very few are known cricketers.
Cricket is known to be a very lucrative sport. The scandal in the IPL earlier and the DDCA currently is just the tip of the iceberg.
Nothing but a national clean-up and a continuous infusion of professional cricketers and coaches, will clean cricket's Augean stables. But who will bell the cat?