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A day after meeting AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das in New Delhi, back in Kolkata the city giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan along with Mohammedan Sporting and the IFA (West Bengal) on Tuesday first met state sports minister Aroop Biswas and then West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to get their backing ahead of their showdown with IMG-Reliance on their extrance into the Indian Super League.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extended full support to the Maidan heavyweights, according to IFA secretary Utpal Ganguli, who said, “Mamata has promised to give full support to the clubs and said she would do anything possible. She asked the clubs to keep their heads held high and not compromise on the dignity. We will not play by giving franchise fees. It’s a disrespect to Bengal’s football. There will be no compromise in that.”
“We are grateful to the CM that she called us to listen to the problem in such a short notice. She took keen interest as she was not aware of the details. We made her understood how there’s a move to dilute the I-League and give prominence to the ISL. There are barriers for two clubs to get inducted,” Mr. Ganguli added.
In the meantime Mohun Bagan has decided to pick-up the bid document, which their archrivals East Bengal did last week.
But is that maybe too late? After Bengaluru FC, Second Division League side AFC Fateh Hyderabad have picked up the bid document as have the Tata Group for Ranchi in their home state of Jharkhand as rumours say others have done as well.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the coming days, if East Bengal and Mohun Bagan join the ISL or stay in the I-League.
