Sangeeta Jaitley withdraws from DDCA elections, Rohan Jaitley stays put

The dramatic entry of the late union minister Arun Jaitley’s wife into this month’s Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) elections was, after all, short-lived. Normal service resumed as Sangeeta Jaitley, who filed her nomination papers along with her son Rohan and former India cricketer Kirti Azad for the DDCA president’s post, withdrew on November 3.

As reported in the November 22 issue of this paper, Sangeeta Jaitley’s sudden entry surprised even several senior members of the Rohan Jaitley-CK Khanna group, as her candidature was kept highly confidential. That she didn’t even visit the DDCA headquarters at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds to file her nomination, as permitted by the rules, added to the drama.

There was no contradiction to the view that Sangeeta had entered the fray as a backup for Rohan, in case he moved to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as its secretary, as per the talks in Delhi’s cricket circles. The BCCI secretary’s post was about to fall vacant as Jay Shah was scheduled to take over as president of the International Cricket Council on December 1. Constituents of Jaitley’s group said that if he went to the BCCI, his mother would contest the DDCA top post, challenging Azad.

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But since there was no positive indication from the BCCI, Rohan stayed put in the DDCA. “Since he was clearly awaiting a message from the BCCI, he delayed announcing our 12-person panel for the DDCA elections,” said a senior member of the group.

Elections will be held for 12 posts of the DDCA apex council, including five office-bearers, from December 13 to 15. The publication of the contesting candidates’ list was scheduled for December 4.

Transparency issue

The publication of the withdrawals list on December 3 indicated that there were indeed some disagreements within the Jaitley-Khanna group. The case of Pawan Gulati, the outgoing treasurer and a maternal uncle of Gautam Gambhir, is a case in point. Gulati, who has a clean image, filed nominations for three posts – vice-president, joint secretary, and treasurer. However, he withdrew from all three positions, indicating the schism.

A source said that Gulati has paid the price for being honest in a place historically known for corruption. “He had disagreements with his apex council colleagues on financial matters, which most probably included the exorbitant expenditure on the stadium floodlights. Then, he did not sign the DDCA balance sheet for FY 2023-24 that has just been released,” the source told Patriot.

Asked why Gulati then filed his nomination papers, the source said that he probably felt that his colleagues would see reason and come around. “That has clearly not happened, and he had to withdraw completely from the race,” he said.

No presidential candidate

The third entity, known as the Rakesh Paweriya-Vinod Tihara group, has interestingly not fielded a presidential candidate to challenge Jaitley and Azad. “They have apparently done this to show their soft corner for Jaitley rather than Azad. By doing this, the Paweriya-Tihara group thinks it would garner more votes for the other posts. But you never know, as it could benefit Azad,” said an expert.

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The other interesting contest is for the secretary’s post — former first-class cricketer Sanjay Bhardwaj (Azad), Tihara, and Ashok Sharma ‘Mama’ (Jaitley). Interestingly, there is a fourth candidate by the name of Sanjay Bhardwaj — a Dronacharya Award-winning coach who also polished Gambhir’s game. Both have identical spellings of their names.

“The presence of two contestants with the same names is bound to confuse many voters. And this could impact the Kirti Azad group’s candidate and help the other groups. But the moot question is: can coach Bhardwaj insist on contesting without the consent of higher-ups?” wondered the expert.

A total of 3,747 members will vote to elect a new apex council, whose tenure will be of three years. The results will be declared on December 16.