Chennai: Brushing aside intense criticism and questions of probity, N Srinivasan was elected unopposed as BCCI President for a third year during the Board’s AGM here on Sunday even though he will not take charge till further orders from the Supreme Court.
Srinivasan was the lone Presidential candidate put forward by the South Zone, from where he received the proposer and the seconder.
The AGM asserted Srinivasan’s supremacy in India’s richest sporting body with not even a single voice of dissent being heard during the proceedings.
But he can resume his duties only after the Supreme Court gives its final verdict on the case filed against his candidature by the Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma.
The choice of the various sub-committees bore ample testimony to Srinivasan’s stranglehold on the organisation as all the executive functionaries as well as the heads of the important panels are perceived to be close to the Chennai strongman.
Srinivasan’s election was on expected lines despite the fact that he had his back against the wall on the issue of propriety after his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was charge-sheeted in the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.
Srinivasan’s company India Cements owns Chennai Super Kings.
Meanwhile, Jagmohan Dalmiya seems to have been left in the lurch.
The veteran administrator has been re-named as the chairman of the North East Development Committee considered to be one of the least active sub-committees.
In fact three of Dalmiya’s junior colleagues in Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) were given better committees than the former BCCI top boss.
“Ideally, Mr Dalmiya shouldn’t have accepted the post of North East development committee chief. But refusing Srinivasan is rubbing him the wrong way and the consequences wouldn’t be that great for Bengal cricket. But no doubt this has been humiliating for him (Dalmiya) and he knows that well,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.
There is no denying the fact that Bengal no longer holds the same influence among the eastern units and the astute businessman in Srinivasan cashed in on that.
In another important decision, Ranjib Biswal, the Odisha Cricket Association chief, was named the IPL chairman, a post left vacant by Rajiv Shukla, who decided to resign at the end of his tenure this year.
Biswal, a former India under-19 captain and first-class cricketer, was the manager of the Indian team during the 2011 World Cup triumph and was also a former chairman of the National Cricket Academy.
Among other important positions, Sneh Bansal (north), Ravi Savant (west) and Rajiv Shukla (central) have replaced Arun Jaitley, Niranjan Shah and Sudhir Dabir as vice-presidents.
Shivlal Yadav and Chitrak Mitra have retained their vice-presidency from south and east zone respectively.
While Jaitley has relinquished his post owing to political commitments in view of the upcoming general elections, Shah and Dabir have been dumped for their perceived closeness to Srinivasan’s adversaries Sharad Pawar and Shashank Manohar.
Sanjay Patel and Anirudh Chaudhury have been named the BCCI Secretary and Treasurer respectively.
These positions were laid vacant when Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke resigned in the aftermath of the IPL betting scandal.
Patel has been interim Secretary so far and his position was only made permanent on Sunday.
Jharkhand State Cricket Association President Amitabh Choudhary was appointed head of the BCCI marketing committee, while Kerala CA boss TC Mathew was handed charge of the National Cricket Academy.
Andhra CA Secretary G Gangaraju was named head of BCCI finance committee. Goa’s Vinod Phadke has been entrusted with the responsibility of heading the media committee.
DDCA’s Ravi Jain has been named the vice-chairman of the media committee.
Incidentally, Gangaraju and Phadke were in Srinivasan’s opposition camp but changed allegiance for which they were suitably rewarded. (PTI)