New group DCC challenges DDCA sports committee

For eight years Vinod Tihara's group ruled the controversial sports working committee of the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA). Now, some of his own groupies have defected to the rival camp to challenge it in the annual election to be held Friday.

The rival group, Delhi Cricket Council (DCC), led by former Delhi cricketer Gautam Wadhera of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), has in its manifesto promised to ring in revolutionary changes to improve the state of Delhi cricket, the league in particular, if voted to office.

The resentment against the ruling group is so overwhelming, Wadhera told reporters Thursday, that the DCC is confident of throwing it out.

Of the 108-club electoral college, Wadhera said, more than 50 had promised to vote for his group.

The DCC, in its manifesto, proposed that it would increase the subsidy for the clubs to Rs.1.5 lakhs and also make the league more attractive by increasing the prize money for all the major tournaments the DDCA conducts.

"There are several institutions which are affiliated to the DDCA but they have no players on their rolls. If the institutions are treated on a par with other clubs, the chances of talented young players getting jobs were bright," said Wadhera.

Besides Wadhera, the other candidates of the DCC are Ahmad Tamim, Ajit Singh Madhokm Anil Kumar Passi, Lalit Sharma, Manbir Singh Bhatia, N.K.Sharma, P.K.Soni, Rajiv Malhotra and Ramesh Sachdeva. However, Madhok and Passi are a member of the sports working committee.

Wadhera said that Madhok, Bhatia, Malhotra and Sachdeva were earlier part of the Tihara camp, but have shifted their allegiance to the DCC, complaining of inactivity of the Sports Committee to improve the conditions of Delhi cricket.

The DCC in a last-minute appeal to the clubs said they should think of the parents of a lot young cricketers, who have been unhappy with the way the league is run and also the selection policies.

Wadhera told IANS that his group wants total transparency in the selection of teams and promised to end the monopoly of a handful of influential clubs in packing the teams, particularly at junior levels.