Wodiyar promises to work in tandem with opposition group

Bangalore, Sept 10 (UNI) The newly elected President of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the scion of Mysore Royal family, today said that he was ready to work in close cooperation with the opposition group in view of the fracturered verdict in the elections for the office bearers of the KSCA working committee held yesterday.

Talking to newspersons after assuming office at M Chinnaswamy stadium, the headquarters of KSCA here, he said, "We will sit together with the opposition group and concentrate on promoting the game of Cricket in Karnataka".

The groups led by Datta and former Test cricketer and incumbent Secretary Brijesh Patel were involved in a bitter fight for supramacy and the life members of the Association gave a fractured verdict electing 13 members from the Datta's group and eleven from Brijesh's side. While Brijesh retained Secretary's post, Little Master G R Vishwanath, backed by Brijesh, lost narrowly to Datta.

"Our first priority would be to see that the first ODI match between India and Australia, scheduled to be held here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on September 29, is made a big success", he added.

Replying to a question, he said that the curruption charges made by him against Brijesh's group during campaign would not be given up but law would take its own course. "It (corruption charges) has to be looked into seriously. The charges were discussed in the AGM held yesterday before the elections. However, we cannot contemplate of approaching court and other things", he added.

Brijesh Patel, who was also present, said that both the group would work together for the promotion of the game. "Groupism ended after elections results were out. Now our aim was to work together and promote cricket in the State," he said.

UNI