Strange Bedfellows

Politics in Maharashtra, as in much of India, is rarely short of surprises. Yet few spectacles reveal its peculiar logic as vividly as the recent elections to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). In a state riven by factional rivalries and shifting alliances, one would expect the cricket turf to mirror the rancour of the Assembly. Instead, cricketing board elections have always been a rare site of bipartisan harmony, where sworn political adversaries shake hands over the boundary line.

The latest MCA election saw Unmesh Khanvilkar elected secretary while Jitendra Awhad - an opposition MLA from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (SP) and a close Pawar aide - secured the vice-president’s post. The association’s new president, Ajinkya Naik, was elected unopposed after all seven other candidates withdrew. What raised eyebrows was not the result but the unspoken coalition behind it. In a statement soon after his victory, Naik offered “heartfelt thanks” to both Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis as well as Pawar, the wily patriarch of Maharashtra’s politics.

For decades, the corridors of cricket administration in Maharashtra have been smoother than its potholed roads. Sharad Pawar’s influence in cricketing circles is legendary. As president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and later of the International Cricket Council, he helped turn the game into a financial empire. His protégés, including BJP leader Ashish Shelar and now Awhad, have long straddled both politics and the pitch. When it comes to cricket, ideological differences dissolve as quickly as a monsoon wicket.

The Pawar-Shelar combine’s triumph in the MCA demonstrates that where real money and visibility lie, political colours blur. The MCA, flush with sponsorships and real-estate assets, is among the most lucrative institutions in the state. Controlling its means wielding patronage. For politicians, it offers an unregulated zone of influence beyond the scrutiny that comes with public office. It is a curious contrast. Maharashtra’s cities, particularly Mumbai and Pune, remain hobbled by decaying infrastructure and chronic mismanagement. Mumbai’s suburban railways groan under overcrowding, its drainage collapses every monsoon. Pune’s traffic chaos and water shortages are legendary. Yet, where urban planning committees bicker and delay, cricket associations hum with efficiency. Governance in sport, it seems, inspires more urgency than governance in the city.

This political détente over cricket also reveals something about the state’s power economy. Maharashtra’s politics has long been built on control of cooperative banks and sugar mills - arenas that blend influence with income. The cricket associations are the new frontier of that model. For the BJP, aligning with Pawar’s network offers access to a parallel establishment that commands deep loyalty across Mumbai’s business elite. For Pawar’s loyalists, it ensures continued relevance even as their electoral fortunes wane.

That such cooperation eludes Mumbai’s civic life is the real tragedy. The same leaders who can unite over a boundary line appear to vanish when it comes to the city’s skyline.