Sports Minister condemns CM for terming Dalmiya 'evil force'

Kolkata, Aug 1 (UNI) Continuing their war of words on the CAB election, Sports Minister Subhash Chakraborty today condemned Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee for describing re-elected Cricket Association of Bengal president Jagmohan Dalmiya as 'evil force'.

''I have known him for the past 20-22 years and to me he is nothing but a perfect gentleman in all respect,'' Mr Chakraborty told newsmen at the state secretariat here.

On Mr Bhattacherjee's derogatory remark against Mr Dalmiya yesterday and his views that the battle would continue despite Mr Dalmiya being re-elected as CAB president, Mr Chakraborty said, ''I don't know anything about any such war but I know that since Mr Dalmiya has been elected in a perfectly democratic manner he is going to hold that post for the next one year. But I am not a party to any such war efforts.'' When his attention was drawn to Mr Bhattacherjee's remarks on the condition of the Eden Gardens, describing it as a condemned ground, Mr Chakraborty quipped, ''If the Eden Gardens was a condemned ground then all other cricket grounds in India should be termed as condemned. To my mind Eden Gardens is in perfect condition.'' Expressing his reservation regarding the CM's outburst about the CAB election following the defeat of his presidential candidate Prasun Mukherjee, the sports minister said, ''I would have accepted such defeat sportingly and refrained from making any statement.

Since the CAB is a self-sufficient agency and does not require any fund from the state government we should not interfere into its day-to-day affairs.'' Strongly pitching in for Mr Dalmiya, Mr Chakraborty asserted he disagreed with the views of the Chief Minister.

''Through my long association with Mr Dalmiya he never appeared to me either as a dacoit or god,'' he remarked.

The minister, however, refused to comment on the remarks of veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu only saying, ''It is not for me to say anything more on what he had said.'' Earlier, Mr Bhattacharjee had refused to be drawn into any further controversy and quoting from Shakespeare's Hamlet said, ''There are many more things in heaven and earth''.

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