Friends are all he needs Everyone says he's a very nice guy. Even his rival in today's election for the BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India) president has always said that. He certainly knows how to win friends (and influence people). The diverse constellation he has commandeered to root for him at Chennai today could teach Dale Carnegie a lesson or two. Well-bred (one of the wealthiest Chettiyars of Tamil Nadu, his father M.A. Chidambaram was BCCI president in the '60s, his uncle is former finance minister P. Chidamabarm), soft-spoken and polite (he did not raise his voice even during the turbulent cricket scam days), 61-year-old A.C. Muthiah makes an unlikely street-fighter. Controversy could well be his middle name. His admirers insist he is a 'low-profile man, like all South Indians, he doesn't like controversies'. The record speaks otherwise. For better or for worse, the Nineties saw Muthiah waging wars - and winning them. 'Only when the chips are down do you know who your friends are,' Muthiah remarked while emerging from an innocuous CII seminar on a sombre Chennai morning in February 1992. It was a moment of unexpected truimph for the MAC family, as the Tamil Nadu government had at last reversed its earlier decision of appointing a state nominee to be chairman of SPIC (Southern Petrochemical Industries Limited), the largest fertiliser producer in the South and the flagship of this leading Chettinad business family. Muthiah's father was back to his old post, a moment which also coincided with the state government's decision to resign its rights in SPIC in favour of the private promoter. That paved the way for the MAC group to beef up its stakes in SPIC, a dream come true for Muthiah. A nightmare followed when the DMK returned to power and turned the heat on Muthiah and his patron-saint Jayalalitha, leading to a CBI enquiry and finally a fine of Rs 28 crores, a verdict that is under appeal. That's not controversy, that's business Indian-style, a friend of Muthiah protests. May be, may be not. But the way he barged into FICCI this year has caught even his friends on the wrong foot. For sometime now Muthiah has had little time for his business interests. Even as SPIC has been ailing Muthiah has entrusted it to his son, Ashwin, a Singapore-based NRI. FICCI presidentship, Muthiah's reply has always been - eight years ago when it was first offered to him and as recently as last year - a polite no thank you. Suddenly, late last month, he decided to cash in his chips and foisted himself as a vice-president, slated to take charge in November 2002. Displacing Calcutta's Rajiv Kanoria who has resigned in protest. There's no reason for Muthiah to have anything against Calcutta, but the man he is determined to defeat today, Jagmohan Dal-miya, till the other day the czar of Indian cricket and Muthiah's benefactor, does come from this city. BCCI vice-president Kamal Morarka and an obvious Dalmiya supporter claims, 'After Muthiah became president, he simply turned his back on Dalmiya.' So, when the votes start rolling in at the BCCI AGM today, Muthiah will be counting on many new friends to keep out his old friend who had helped him to become BCCI president in the first place. Friends he has taken pains to cultivate. Once considered Dalmiya's Rabri Devi, Muthiah went out of his way to rope in Laloo Prasad Yadav and his newfound Bihar Cricket Association. Now his supporters range from known Dalmiya baiters of the cricketing world like I.S. Bindra and Raj Singh Dungarpur to Sharad Pawar, the boss of the Maharashtra Cricket Association. No surprise that Muthiah is confident of getting 18 votes out of the 31 affiliate units, which means a clear majority. He has even been flaunting this ever since he threw a lavish dinner in New Delhi last Tuesday, where all his 'friends' were present. In fact, he called a press conference immediately after the bash and announced that he will win. Announcing to the world another controversy. Initially it had looked like Muthiah would slip smoothly into his third term as president but then, a few days ago, Dalmiya sent everyone into a tizzy by deciding to contest the elections to head the world's richest cricket body. Things haven't looked too easy ever since. Dalmiya, too, insists he is comfortably placed. An experienced player of the administrative ballgame, he has the support of the likes of Arun Jaitley, Jaywant Lele and most of the cricket board chiefs of eastern and southern India. He is also armed with a whole list of accusations, some of which are potent enough to turn the tables. Team Dalmiya says the game is in a mess and the present body lacks cohesiveness. They portray Muthiah as weak-kneed in front of the government on Indo-Pak cricket relationship. Dalmiya is also strident on the appointment of Geoff Marsh as the board's consultant for a fancy sum of money and his subsequent controversial resignation. 'It is intriguing why there has been such a considerable slump in India's ranking in world cricket. Despite the scientific methods that the present management has claimed to have introduced, six key cricketers of the team are suffering from injuries,' alleges Dalmiya. In the war of words between the two factions, it was Muthiah's closest ally, Dungarpur, who fired the first salvo, criticising Dalmiya for trying to block 'the roads for introduction of corporate governance. 'It will be a great tragedy if Dr Muthiah is not allowed to complete his third term,' said the former BCCI president. There's no denying Muthiah took over at the time when Indian cricket was passing through its worst crisis. Unlike his father who had to deal with the game when it was still being played by 'gentlemen', Muthiah Jr has had to face tougher times. The game has grown too big and there are just too many administrators to deal with. The biggest thorn was the match-fixing scandal. The clean-up act that followed did earn Muthiah a few kudos but his greatest gift to Indian cricketers was the graded-payment system for international players. This meant that players would be paid according to their experience. A far cry from a time when all players were handed the same amount for a match. Muthiah promises more. He now wants to provide better conditions for those who play domestic cricket and ensure that senior players guide the younger lot. Commendable feats for any board president. But are they good enough to see him through? You can't count upon it. That's where his allies come in. Apart from his powerful friends, Muthiah also has convention on his side. He has completed two terms as president and should get a third and final term. There has been only one exception to this in BCCI's 73-year history. The then Board chief had lost out to player power. Muthiah must also be aware that Dalmiya has never lost an election. Right from Rajasthan Club in Calcutta to ICC, the most recognisable corporate face of Indian cricket has always emerged a winner. Dalmiya has also reportedly claimed he will be able to convince Pawar to switch to his side. Whatever happens, Muthiah is assured of one support. That of his spiritual guru, Paramacharya. Muthiah has been indebted to his blessings in the past, he sure will be counting on them today.