By IANS,
Jaipur : Unruly scenes were witnessed at Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) elections here Monday as supporters of former president Lalit Modi and union minister C.P. Joshi clashed with each other.
The elections for the president’s post have become a talking point as it is a straight fight between Modi, who is the Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner and cricket board vice-president, and union rural development minister Joshi.
It is the first time in the history of RCA that a leader of the stature of Joshi is fighting for the top post.
The trouble started few hours after the voting began at 11 a.m. at the RCA academy here when supporters of both the groups, shouting slogans of alleged rigging, clashed with each other and police had to intervene to restore normalcy.
In the scuffle, Ameen Pathan, a close aide of Modi was roughed up by the police and the supporters of Joshi.
Both the parties had brought their supporters in large numbers and they were very vocal in the support of their respective candidates. Fearing violence, a large contingent of police was deputed in SMS stadium where RCA academy is situated.
Modi refused to blame any one for the trouble.
“I and my supporters were manhandled by the rival group. There is no point in politicizing the issue. I don’t know who the people were. It is the job of the police who would be able to identify the miscreants as lot of video footage is available”, Modi said while talking to media persons.
When Modi came out after casting his vote, Joshi’s supporters allegedly jeered him, and even threw stones at his car. Joshi has termed the incident as unfortunate.