The magic of being Mr Sharad Pawar

Did you enjoy the game? Well in all the hulla buloo and glory of the balls, it seems we have forgotten the man behind the greatest cricket show on earth. Sharad Chandra Govindrao Pawar. We have forgotten to honour Mr Sharad Pawar.
And it’s not for cricket alone that he deserves the distinction of being given a standing ovation. He is one of the few politicians who has seen it all, been there and done that without getting involved in any scam or any corruption case.
Man of many seasons, he has walked across various tides without a scratch. The wind blows in his face and he couldn’t care less much like a camel walking the Thar desert facing sand dunes.
Like him nor not, but you cannot ignore Mr Sharad Pawar, agriculture minister of the country and chairman of International Cricket Council and ‘National’ Congress Party president.
Latest doing the round is that Pawar flew with Shahid Balwa to Dubai. Does it matter that he flew with the 2G scam accused (Yes Balwa and Pawar flew together to Dubai - on a date...). Hardly! Of course, Mr Pawar couldn’t have remembered the 37-year-old budding business honcho. Balwa’s company got Rs 1.32 crore from the NCP for flying him around during 2008 elections. This was the time Balwa was trying to get the 2G spectrum from A Raja. Eventually, Balwa is alleged to have paid Rs 214 crore bribe through a net of three companies that landed at Mr M Karunanidhi’s doorstep.
But what is the connection with Pawar. Nothing, if you believe Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil. However, there is an interesting twist to the Pawar-Balwa link apart from aircraft usage by the NCP strongman.
Lawyer Prashant Bhushan has sought to link Swan Telecom promoter Balwa to a Central Minister (Pawar). Interestingly, CBI joint director YP Singh, who was handling the 2G scam case, took voluntary retirement from the primer investigating agency to join the ICC. There is a possibility that Singh could have given all the good tips to ICC to benefit the cricketing body. Mr Pawar still is out of focus. When NCP boss says that he is not friends with Balwa, who is just too young, it fails logic why no one is ready to buy the argument.
Is there just too much coincidence!
In fact people have always let Pawar beep off the radar and who has never really got bowled.
Abdul Karim Telgi, accused for making printing and selling fake stamp papers, landed in police net for stealing government stamps worth Rs 23,000 crore from railway wagons between 1997-2003. In a narco test, Telgi specically named Mr Sharad Pawar, as the man who was involved in the racket.
The Telgi clip was repeatedly aired by the news channels without any impact on Pawar. An accuse in a case can name his conspirators but if the law allows him to escape scrutiny, it doesn’t augur well for a prudent and balance legal system like ours.
And even social activist’s Anna Hazare’s campaign against Pawar didn’t pay any dividends. Hazare and other Maharashtra leaders have to the extent of pointing fingers at Pawar for his close releationship with underworld don cum terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. Not much has come out on that score though people would like to believe otherwise.
Pawar, a Sagittarius born on December 12, 1940, is considered to be one of the richest politicians of India, though on paper he hardly worth a couple of crores. Pawar has deep-rooted sweet interest in sugar industry in Maharashtra. No wonder that sugar prices in the UPA regime under his excellent guidance had reached a record-high. Ditto for all the commodity items like wheat, onion…
He now has ventured into education and real estate, albeit through the back door. Lavasa is just a case in point, which is being linked to the agriculture minister.
Off the record, people in Baramati are ready to explain what all Pawar owns, runs or has interests in. The figures can be astounding.
There are no permanent friends or foes in politics and no one knows it better than Pawar.
Ambitious Pawar branched out from the Congress party as he could not digest the idea of Italy-born Sonia Gandhi leading the nation. He formed the NCP, which is now an ally of the UPA.
And politics alone could not have captured the fancy of the Maratha strong-man. His foray into cricket should not be surprising. He became the chief of the cricketing organization, the BCCI, the richest sporting body in the country. After three-years, Pawar had enough of national cricket and ventured into the big league, the ICC. And since then its been smooth sailing, despite the fact the Indian Premier League fiasco also happened during this phase. Lalit Modi, the man who the IPL muck has been unloaded, is refusing to come to India. Is it the Pawar-factor at work?
Now Balwa has come out and openly told a court and CBI officials that nothing will happen in the 2G case or the aircraft linking to NCP. Pawar has always been controversial and yet managed a thriving political career sprinkled with scams taints. The beauty is that sahib, as he is fondly called by his admirers, has had a fairly good track record.
Pawar’s power, reach and craftsmanship are unimaginable. And what Balwa says is not without reason. There is a strong underlined message and the script is being rewritten as it tends to spoil the cricketing party. Is the underlining by Balwa being taken too seriously?