To get Pawar out, Dalmiya bats with the Congress

The Congress-NCP combine was guaranteed votes from 14 of the BCCI’s 30 affiliates, while a Dalmiya-Jaitley combine was sure of no more than nine—seven of them Dalmiya loyalists.

Now Pawar himself may be in trouble. Board strongman Jagmohan Dalmiya has spent the past two days building bridges with the ruling Congress, sources say.

It appears Dalmiya has spoken to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and offered a third formula: ‘‘I’ll back a Congress candidate against Pawar.’’ With Jaitley out of the way, Congress-NCP solidarity has thus come under pressure.

Of the 14 votes Pawar was backing on, six are controlled by Congress politicians who run the Orissa, Hyderabad, Gujarat, MP, Assam and Goa units. Additionally, two votes are decided by Congress ministers — Services (Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee) and Universities (HRD Minister Arjun Singh).

The third institutional vote—Railways—was promised to Pawar by Railway Minister Laloo Yadav (RJD) at a one-to-one meeting on Wednesday.

The Dalmiya faction of the BCCI controls seven votes — Cricket Association of Bengal, National Cricket Club (Kolkata), Tripura, Kerala, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

Together with six Congress-run state units and two institutional votes, this adds up to 15. In case of a 15-15 tie, Dalmiya, as outgoing president, has a casting vote.

As such, a Dalmiya-Congress alliance is unbeatable. It could leave Pawar a non-starter.

‘‘Dalmiya is very close to Pranab,’’ said a senior Congress MP. ‘‘About a fortnight ago, the CAB even felicitated him on becoming Defence Minister.’’

Dalmiya has also been in touch with his friends in the Left — ‘‘He has very good ties with Somnath Chatterjee and even Jyoti Basu’’ — to overcome a challenge that threatened his 15-year control of the BCCI.

All three Left-ruled states — Bengal, Tripura and Kerala — have pro-Dalmiya cricket associations. The inferences are obvious.

The big question is: who will be the Congress-Dalmiya compromise choice? Re-entering contention is Ranbir Singh Mahendra, a minor Congress politician, son of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal and old Dalmiya groupie.

‘‘Dalmiya has offered to back Mahendra,’’ said a cricket official close to him, ‘‘arguing that since Jaitley is out, there is no reason for the Congress to back Pawar and overly politicise Board politics.

Two others names doing the rounds are Rajeev Shukla and Kamal Morarka. While Shukla is ‘‘less than keen’’, Morarka is described as ‘‘Dalmiya’s stalking horse’’. Currently BCCI vice-president, Morarka will stand if only to ensure the Dalmiya camp doesn’t go down without a fight.

Dalmiya is unwilling to accept Pawar because he is upset with Zee Telefilms’ open canvassing for the Maharashtra politician. Zee’s abortive bid for the BCCI cricket rights has caused a lot of bad blood. ‘‘Zee wanted to effect a coup,’’ alleged a cricket functionary, ‘‘dividing the BCCI down the middle and unseating Dalmiya.’’

In the fog of war, it is difficult to tell perception from paranoia. Even so, politicians are taking the BCCI battle very seriously.

A CPI(M) ideologue in Delhi is said to have spoken to his colleagues in Tripura to ensure there was no rebellion against Dalmiya in the local cricket unit. Farooq Abdullah, chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, is being wooed by both sides, almost as if it were a confidence vote in the Lok Sabha.

At the Congress HQ, the party resident is believed to have asked Ahmed Patel and Rajeev Shukla to ‘‘handle the cricket matter’’. A party functionary takes umbrage at such suggestions, ‘‘ This is all rubbish. I don’t know why Ahmed Patel is being dragged into this… yes, we don’t want Jaitley to get the job, that’s all. The AICC is not the All-India Cricket Committee.’’ On recent evidence, it’s difficult to agree.