Less than 48 hours after his visit to the East Bengal premises, Sourav Ganguly paid a “courtesy visit” to the Mohun Bagan club on Tuesday.
On Sunday, after deciding not to file his nomination for the CAB presidency and, therefore, paving the way for elder brother Snehasish Ganguly’s elevation, the siblings went to meet East Bengal officials, who are said to be miffed about the non-inclusion of one of their own, and sort out matters with them.
The visit sparked off whispers in the Maidan on why the Ganguly brothers went over to East Bengal.
On Tuesday, Sourav visited the Mohun Bagan premises and after a round of meeting with club secretary Debashish Dutta and football secretary Swapan Banerjee, thanked them for their support on the panel of office-bearers who are all set to be elected uncontested.
“Debashishda and Swapan helped me a lot in the (CAB) matters although there were no elections this time for whatever reasons. Not sure though why there were no elections... Nonetheless, I believe they’ll keep supporting me in the future too. So I thank them a lot for their wholehearted support,” Sourav told reporters on the Bagan premises.
“From Day I itself, we were with Sourav,” Dutta chipped in. “We don’t believe in bargaining all of a sudden at two o’clock in the afternoon. From the very first day, we were clear about our stand and whom to support,” the Bagan secretary added, taking a dig at arch-rivals East Bengal.
According to sources, one of the East Bengal representatives, aggrieved with Sourav’s panel, had sought an election for the vice-president’s post.
Not being a part of cricket administration at present, Sourav is set to be back as the director of ATK Mohun Bagan. “Yes, I’ll be returning as the director,” Sourav, who represented Bagan for more than nine years in CAB club cricket and also captained them, stated.
“We have requested Sourav to come back as director and hopefully, in the next meeting itself, that will be cleared. Besides, he has always been our man,” Dutta said.
Sourav also said that he would be at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday for the Indian Super League Derby between Bagan and East Bengal. “It’s a lovely atmosphere at Salt Lake Stadium, which I have witnessed in the previous ISL editions. So yes, I’ll be going to watch the Derby this Saturday.
“I’ll also be going to watch the (football) World Cup semi-finals and the final (in Qatar). I’ll be going to England as well for a month (for holidays) on the 11th (of November)...
“I did play cricket all my life, but football has a different feel altogether. The facilities in this club have also improved so much,” Sourav said.
Later, Sourav went to the Bagan ground to watch ATK Bagan footballers train under the supervision of head coach Juan Ferrando.
