For whom the bells toll in HCA

Hyderabad: Irrespective of how and to what extent Team India can salvage its reputation as the top Test team in the world from the African Safari, there is one man in Hyderabad from whom they can learn invaluable lessons on hanging on in the middle even in the absence of a dependable striker at the other end.

The individual in question has been displaying remarkable dexterity (?) to successfully survive the most penetrative and unplayable ‘doosras’ being hurled at him and that too with nostalgic disdain.

In fact, anyone in the position that the President of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) Dr G Vivekanand finds himself in presently, would have either beaten a hasty retreat or bowed down to popular voices and made an honourable exit. But then the politician in the man is, perhaps, restraining him from taking such a ‘daring’ step, despite the growing clamour for his ouster and that too from all quarters.

It is a sad commentary on the present state-of-affairs that he continues to ‘rule’ the roost even though the HCA itself seems like a deserted house what with a majority of members (voters) being on a warpath against their President for his alleged ‘excesses’ (read family and business interests).

Confront the man in the dock and he is almost unnerved. He wears a deadpan look that will leave one seething with rage and nothing beyond that.

He gives a damn to the orchestrations, which are actually growing louder by the hour. “I have been elected democratically and nothing can change this equation. I have been working within the powers and provisions as bestowed upon Association presidents. The talk of illegalities and unethical functioning are baseless allegations against me. The SGM and adoption of Lodha reforms were all legal,” goes the man’s defence.

However, the gathering storm implies that the wind is blowing the other way, as forcefully. Just about everyone, from the biggest cricketer produced by HCA to the most qualified administrator down to members of the Association and support staff, is against this man. The reasons are, more or less, the same-unilateral decisions that do not augur well for the game.

The names include that of Mohd Azahruddin, who has made his intentions pretty clear-I wish to take over the mantle and cleanse the Association from the very top to the bottom.
Former Sports Minister and Congress veteran V Hanumantha Rao has been at his boisterous best while taking pot-shots at Vivek.

Of course, one should not miss out the political differences that perhaps are instigating him to come to the ‘rescue’ of the former India captain and fellow-Congress man, who is being presented as a ‘victim’ of HCA highhandedness that saw him being barred from the Association’s SGM. The agitated cricketer has used the choicest of abuses against the office-bearers and threatened to take them to court, which had already absolved him of all match-fixing charges.

A new twist to the on-going ‘kissa kursi ka’ saga seems to be taking shape. In typical ‘enemy’s enemy is my friend’ style, during the finals of the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Under-19 tournament, Azharuddin and Hanumantha Rao were cozying up to the ‘suspended’ Secretary T Shesh Narayan, an individual with whom the ‘rebels’ always had issues with as he was seen as an accomplice to the fraudulent happenings in the HCA.

On being denied the right to contest the elections, the exasperated Azhar remarked, “I am sure that Vivekanand is worried that he would be mercilessly voted out by the members as and when elections are held.”

“The meetings he and Hanumantha Rao had with the Ombudsman L Narasimha Reddy may not help make much headway as the incumbent has been a nominee of the President,” opined a former office-bearer of HCA.

Another former office-bearer wondered why the State Government was being a mute spectator when the fact of the matter was that it was a clear case of conflict of interest given Vivek’s position as an advisor to the State Government. For the moment, with several disgruntled elements trying to come together it seems more like ‘too many cooks…’, which is working to the advantage of Vivekanand.

At least for now! His survival, despite the odds, is reminiscent of the manner N Kiran Kumar Reddy defied the diktat of Sonia Gandhi and opposed the creation of Telangana tooth and nail.

He dared the party high command, but remained in the position till the time the undivided Andhra Pradesh was dusted into history books. Vivekanand is displaying a similar bravado and it remains to be seen who will dare beard the lion in its den. Till such time, the Vivek rule will be firmly in place.