When Sourav Ganguly was pitted against N Srinivasan!
NEW DELHI: Hours before BCCI's Special General Meeting (SGM) was adjourned and the disqualified officials made a mockery of the Supreme Court-approved Lodha Committee's reforms by making their presence felt in the boardroom on Sunday morning, it almost became an N Srinivasan versus Sourav Ganguly contest.
The official version is that BCCI's SGM was postponed because it was unanimously decided to wait for the Supreme Court directive on whether disqualified state officials can attend the SGM or not.
However, sources said there was opposition to Srinivasan's candidature for the board's representative for the International Cricket Council (ICC) meet.
Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur called up several associations to oppose Srinivasan's name. Sources said that the opposing group then zeroed in on former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly's name. Even the Srinivasan group too confirmed hearing murmurs about Ganguly's candidature.
Surprisingly, when BCCI was asked by the Supreme Court to name its choice of representative for ICC meeting a few months back, Thakur had suggested Srinivasan's name.
"We had a chat with Ganguly and his name was supposed to be proposed to oppose Srinivasan's candidature. There were other states who were willing to back the idea.
But the SGM got adjourned. We feel that BCCI should not go back to the 2013 days when the Srinivasan issues became a backlash," a state representative from West Zone told TOI.
Sources revealed that Srinivasan saw it coming and he parked himself in the hotel lobby on Sunday morning and spoke to each and every state representative to seek their support for clearing his name for the ICC representation. It is believed that the TNCA boss was told that he may fall short of the required number (16 votes out of 30) and therefore, the meeting was adjourned to 'buy time and also drum up more support'.
Sources also said that Srinivasan isn't interested in grabbing the ICC chairman's post but he is only interested to fight India's case in ICC to bring back India's money and in principle not to roll back the Big Three formula.
Interestingly, that Srinivasan attended Sunday's SGM, which was chaired by acting president CK Khanna and adjourned by joint-secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, along with other disqualified members didn't bother the BCCI office-bearers despite the CoA 's strictures.
The board said that the likes of Niranjan Shah from Saurashtra and TC Mathew from Kerala attended the meeting because they were authorised by their state associations. "In the court of law, the authority of an office is judged on paper.
All these officials have been authorised by their states to attend this SGM. We will seek more clarity from the SC because some of the members were keen to do so and that is why the SGM is cancelled," a top BCCI official said.
The next BCCI SGM is tentatively scheduled on Wednesday and it remains to be seen if there would be an opposition to Srinivasan's name or not. "Srinivasan has completed nine years in state and BCCI. He is also above 70 years and also has a court case pending against his name.
Therefore, what is point of appointing such a candidate," the opposing camp questioned.
The official version is that BCCI's SGM was postponed because it was unanimously decided to wait for the Supreme Court directive on whether disqualified state officials can attend the SGM or not.
However, sources said there was opposition to Srinivasan's candidature for the board's representative for the International Cricket Council (ICC) meet.
Former BCCI president Anurag Thakur called up several associations to oppose Srinivasan's name. Sources said that the opposing group then zeroed in on former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly's name. Even the Srinivasan group too confirmed hearing murmurs about Ganguly's candidature.
Surprisingly, when BCCI was asked by the Supreme Court to name its choice of representative for ICC meeting a few months back, Thakur had suggested Srinivasan's name.
"We had a chat with Ganguly and his name was supposed to be proposed to oppose Srinivasan's candidature. There were other states who were willing to back the idea.
But the SGM got adjourned. We feel that BCCI should not go back to the 2013 days when the Srinivasan issues became a backlash," a state representative from West Zone told TOI.
Sources revealed that Srinivasan saw it coming and he parked himself in the hotel lobby on Sunday morning and spoke to each and every state representative to seek their support for clearing his name for the ICC representation. It is believed that the TNCA boss was told that he may fall short of the required number (16 votes out of 30) and therefore, the meeting was adjourned to 'buy time and also drum up more support'.
Sources also said that Srinivasan isn't interested in grabbing the ICC chairman's post but he is only interested to fight India's case in ICC to bring back India's money and in principle not to roll back the Big Three formula.
Interestingly, that Srinivasan attended Sunday's SGM, which was chaired by acting president CK Khanna and adjourned by joint-secretary Amitabh Chaudhary, along with other disqualified members didn't bother the BCCI office-bearers despite the CoA 's strictures.
The board said that the likes of Niranjan Shah from Saurashtra and TC Mathew from Kerala attended the meeting because they were authorised by their state associations. "In the court of law, the authority of an office is judged on paper.
All these officials have been authorised by their states to attend this SGM. We will seek more clarity from the SC because some of the members were keen to do so and that is why the SGM is cancelled," a top BCCI official said.
The next BCCI SGM is tentatively scheduled on Wednesday and it remains to be seen if there would be an opposition to Srinivasan's name or not. "Srinivasan has completed nine years in state and BCCI. He is also above 70 years and also has a court case pending against his name.
Therefore, what is point of appointing such a candidate," the opposing camp questioned.
