Sharad Pawar meets Bal Thackeray on IPL

Nationalist Congress Party president and Union Minister Sharad Pawar met Bal Thackeray on Sunday and made an appeal to the Shiv Sena chief to withdraw the Sena threat to Australian players’ participation in the third edition of the IPL cricket tourney.

“Pawar, president of Mumbai Cricket Association, asked Thackeray not to oppose Australian players in IPL,” Sena sources said after the meeting. The 84-year-old Sena chief has agreed to consider the “request” after the BCCI makes a presentation on IPL format and the number of Aussie players taking part.

Mr. Pawar said in Aurangabad earlier in the day that he would appeal to Mr. Thackeray not to bring politics into sports in the backdrop of Sena’s opposition to inclusion of Pakistani and Australian players in IPL.

Mr. Pawar was accompanied by BCCI president Shashank Manohar during his visit to Mr. Thackeray’s residence ‘Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra. Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray was also present.

“Bal Thackeray and he (Uddhav) gave us a considerate hearing. We tried to convince him that only one or two Australian players will participate in the IPL matches and by not allowing all IPL matches, it’s the State players (Marathi players) who will lose ultimately,” Mr. Manohar told reporters after the meeting. “Thackeray has asked for a detailed presentation on the issue which we will be providing in couple of days and thereafter he would consider our request.”

The meeting has created ripples in the State political circles, as both NCP and Sena are in an uneasy partnership with their respective allies. But NCP spokesman S P Tripathi said no political significance be attached to the meeting. “The meeting, in many ways, sent a signal that neither the Congress nor the BJP can take their allies for granted,” a NCP leader said. -- PTI