by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

One rule for Kalmadi another for Srinivasan


The politicians are back to doing what they are good at - hatchet job.  And the politicians have a reason to wield the chopper with glee, because the target is *not* one of their own - for once.

Let us see the list of politicians - both from the ruling alliance and the national opposition ganging up on the issue:
  • Sharad Pawar, Union Agriculture Minister and former BCCI Chief, (actually the party he heads) called for N. Srinivasan to quit.
  • Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Union Minister for Power and the Chief of MP Cricket Association) popped up in support of the original call by Sharad Pawar.
  • Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition, Rajya Sabha and the Vice-President of BCCI (along with being member of IPL governing council and the BCCI Disciplinary Committee), has called for N. Srinivasan’s head.
  • Rajeev Shukla, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Chairman of the IPL has backed Arun Jaitley’s call.
  • The latest was the Sports Ministry expressing the view in a Press Released that N. Srinivasan should step down as there is a ‘conflict of interest’.
To be fair to politicians, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and Farooq Abdullah of NC expressed support for N. Srinivasan, though their show of support would be more of a hindrance than a help.
;-)

The most cynical, and hypocritical opinion was that of the Subrata Rai of the Sahara India Parivar - an alleged Ponzi scheme - who asked for Sharad Pawar to replace N. Srinivasan.  Mind you, Subrata Rai has threatened to stop sponsoring the Indian Cricket Team, if N. Srinivasan doesn’t quit - as though we should feel privileged and proud to advertise for an alleged ponzi scam through our national team. 

To paraphrase, I have never heard of a Ponzi calling a Bookie black.

To get back to point, it is actually heart-warming to hear our politicians, usually expected to be thick skinned and shameless about nepotism and corrupt practices, ganging up and speaking out against N. Srinivasan, who is not a politician, for conflict of interest in a corruption investigation.

I wonder where these guys were hiding when Suresh Kalmadi continued to rule roost in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) as recently as Jan 2012.  The same Suresh Kalmadi who has been actually accused and arrested on charges of corruption in the conduct of Commonwealth Games, Delhi.

I don’t remember hearing a peep out of these honest men about ‘conflict of interest’ when Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule were revealed to own over 16% of a firm which was a failed bidder for an IPL cricket team.

Neither were these gentlemen in the front of TV cameras when the now reinstated State Minister for HRD, Shashi Tharoor was involved in a sweat equity scandal in the same IPL setup.

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(image courtesy SANDEEP ADHWARYU/ outlookindia.com)


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