The actual process of securing Srinivasan's resignation may prove to be bitter and messy because he is pressing for certain conditions that most members find unacceptable.
It is reliably learnt that Srinivasan has laid down four key conditions for stepping aside, pending the BCCI inquiry into the betting-fixing scandal.
These are: a) he should continue to represent India at the International Cricket Council (ICC); b) the two officials who resigned on Friday - board secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke - should not return to the board; c) he would choose the secretary and treasurer before he leaves; and d) the interim president should be someone who is already in the board.
Shukla's resignation is said to have come in the wake of these demands and is designed to convey that they can't be accepted as their implications are far-reaching.
For instance, it would indeed be bizarre to have Srinivasan, who has lost the confidence of the Indian cricket board, to represent the country at the ICC.
Likewise, accepting his condition to have his nominees as board secretary and treasurer would allow him to remote control the board and possibly exercise influence over the internal inquiry into allegations of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan's involvement in the betting-fixing scandal.
It's learnt that Srinivasan has also mentioned that if he were to step down, so should Rajeev Shukla as he was the IPL commissioner. When Shukla and Arun Jaitley had met Srinivasan in Kolkata last Sunday to persuade him to resign, the BCCI boss had even then raised the same demand.
After coming back to Delhi, Shukla had announced he would not be in the running for a third term as IPL commissioner. Now he has resigned to pre-empt Srinivasan raising the same issue in Sunday's meeting.
While the views of all 22 members attending Sunday's meeting couldn't be ascertained, those contacted told TOI that they were unwilling to accept the board chief's conditions.
After Srinivasan conveyed them to Shukla at around 1 pm on Saturday, board heavyweights have been on the phone to thrash out a unified strategy for foiling Srinivasan's gameplan.
It appears Shukla initially had not quite realized the implications of the demands, but after talking to other members, they dawned on him. Soon thereafter, he decided to put in his papers.
After talking to Shukla, Srinivasan is learnt to have dialed former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata to seek his support for him to continue to represent India at the ICC.
As a return favour, he's learnt to have told Dalmiya that he would support him as interim president. Dalmiya is believed to have been noncommittal, and shared this conversation with other board members while clarifying that he wasn't really interested in the post of interim president.
For several bigwigs the choice of an interim president appears to be another former board president, Shashank Manohar, reputed to be an able and upright administrator.
Manohar is no longer a member of the board, although he remains an influential person in BCCI. It seems that it's to scupper his candidature that Srinivasan has set the condition that no one from outside the board could be the interim president.
0 comments:
Post a Comment