Dalmiya still not out of fray as CAB polls heat up

Kolkata, July 21 (UNI) The CAB elections are heading for a humdinger battle with Sports Minister Subhas Chakroborty throwing in the towel and incumbent president Jagmohan Dalmiya remaining silently resolute to be in the fray.

Chakraborty yestreday said he was unable to carry out the request of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to persuade Jagmohan Dalmiya to abstain from contesting the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) elections on July 30.

''I have failed so far to carry out the request of the Chief Minister. But I will still keep trying to persuade Dalmiya (incumbent president of CAB),'' Chakraborty told reporters, as the date to the 121 unit CAB polls advance fast.

'' Am trying but with no results, ''he said.

However, the amount of effort that had gone into trying to pursuade Dalmiya can come under the scanner as Chakroborty is known to be lobbying hard for the cricket administrator. The last date of filing nominations is July 22 and its almost sure that the ruling faction will play their cards only in the last moment.

Sources close to Dalmiya camp told UNI, ''We are confident of a comfortable victory and that to by a comfortable margin.'' It seems that the four names forwarded by Dalmiya as replacements for him did not work out. The names included the likes of Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Somnath Chatterjee and B N Dutt and the Sports Minister himself.

Meanwhile, the sources stated that they were doing everything to convince their leader to contest and looked confident of a victory.

But they are playing their cards close to the chest and are not willing to give out names or any member of the panel at this time.

It seems that three of the vice-presidents will have their terms completing this year and some of the fence sitters or those partly against the ruling camp could be offered the posts. This could assure them some 10 votes which could be telling in the polls.

City police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee is the candidate against Dalmiya for the president's post and is being backed by the Chief Minister and the rival group claiming the support of Sourav Ganguly.

The hotly-debated run-up to the battle for Eden Gardens gathered momentum yesterday evening with Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee filing his nomination papers for the post of president of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

And as the opposition is still in a quandary over working out the panel ''choosing from among Samar Pal, Raja Venkat, Tushar Sarkar and Snehasish Ganguly'' the nomination trend shows Dalmiya still holds a slight edge.

UNI BA SJC DH RN1656