The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) elections are here again, with nominations set to begin on November 18. Rohan Jaitley, who defeated Supreme Court Bar Association president Vikas Singh in the last election for the post of DDCA President, will now face Trinamool Congress MP and former member of India’s World Cup-winning cricket team, Kirti Azad.
The DDCA elections are among the most bitterly contested in the country, with political lines often blurred as members of the same party turn against each other in this no-holds-barred battle. Jaitley’s fiercest opponents within the association are Siddarth Verma, son of former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, who won the DDCA secretaryship in the last election, and Pravesh Verma, the former West Delhi BJP MP.
According to grapevine, the bitter feud between Pravesh and Rohan is believed to have contributed to their failure to secure Lok Sabha nominations earlier this year. The party denied a ticket to Pravesh, despite his being a second-term MP who had won his seat by a large margin. Rohan was reportedly the frontrunner for the New Delhi seat, which eventually went to Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late Sushma Swaraj.
Sources say the BJP leadership has asked the two warring leaders to tone down their rivalry during the ongoing DDCA elections, which begin tomorrow, as the party does not want the internal conflict to harm its chances in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. Rohan is also seen as a leading contender to replace BCCI secretary Jay Shah, who is scheduled to take over as ICC president on December 1.
Haryana Loss
Two committees, no accountability for Congress
The Congress party’s stunning defeat in Haryana has cast its shadow on Maharashtra and Jharkhand elections. The unexpected victory has filled the BJP with new energy and confidence in its battle for the two crucial states of Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Haryana has brought the air of invincibility back to the BJP after the Lok Sabha election setback where the party failed to secure a majority on its own.
For the Congress, on the other hand, nothing seems to have changed. The party set up a committee at the central level to probe the reasons behind its defeat. The committee submitted its report two weeks ago, but the party has yet to act on it. Fearing criticism and punitive action, the Haryana unit of Congress established a state-level committee which blamed EVM tampering for the loss.
The state committee was headed by Karan Dalal, a relative of Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Dalal lost his seat by over 33,000 votes. He was appointed as the head of the panel by state unit president Udai Bhan, who was himself defeated in the recent election.
The two leaders have become the subject of Haryanavi jokes, with people suggesting that they should first address the reasons for their own losses before attempting to explain why others lost. Sources in the party indicated that the leadership may discuss the central committee report after the Maharashtra elections. Incidentally, the central committee was headed by party treasure Ajay Maken, who had lost the Rajya Sabha election from Haryana not too long ago.