Snubbed by Dalmiya, Srinivasan turns to old foe Pawar
Jagmohan Dalmiya and Sourav Ganguly at a felicitation ceremony in Kolkata on Thursday. (Source: Express photo by Partha Paul)
Former Indian cricket board chiefs N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar, whose respective factions went head to head in the elections, have buried the hatchet, it is reliably learnt.
The thaw in the relationship between Pawar and Srinivasan came about after the former called on BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata but was not given a clear cut answer on the status of various committees that are yet to be formed. Also what irked the ICC chairman was the fact that Dalmiya’s son Avishek was running the day to day affairs of the BCCI.
Sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that Srinivasan, who was in Australia in his capacity as ICC chairman, spoke to Pawar over the phone. Srinivasan made it clear to Pawar that he was more comfortable working with him henceforth. Sources close to both Pawar and Srinivasan confirmed that the two former BCCI officials had spoken to each other and were on good terms now.
“Dalmiya’s son is handling everything and Srinvasan wasn’t happy with the way his meeting with the BCCI president went. He was given no information on the formation of the various committees. He was rather miffed and called Pawar after reaching Australia. Pawar was also open to leaving behind the past and working together,” a source close to the Srinivasan camp said on the condition of anonymity.
Srinivasan and Pawar have not seen eye to eye recently and the latter took exception to the former’s reluctance to step down from his post of BCCI president after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyapan was investigated for alleged betting charges.
Other than the post of the president for the BCCI, both Pawar and Srinivasan had fielded candidates for other posts in the elections that were held in the first week of March. Though Dalmiya was an unanimous choice, the elections to the other posts were close affairs. The BCCI secretary’s post was won by Anurag Thakur, backed by the Pawar group, who beat Sanjay Patel, known to be close to Srinivasan, by just one vote.
Even after the elections, Pawar in an interview had said: “This is the end of the one-man show at the BCCI. Dalmiya and Anurag will establish a new system. Gone are the days when the BCCI could be run via remote control. Srinivasan has been allowed to continue representing the BCCI at the ICC because we felt that we shouldn’t tarnish the image of the BCCI and Indian cricket at the world stage.”
Though there are no permanent friends and enemies as far as BCCI politics goes, the fact that Srinivasan has tried to patch up with Pawar means the equations within the Indian cricket board may change.
Ganguly likely for IPL GC
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is likely to be included in the Indian Premier League (IPL) governing council. Sources in the BCCI informed that Jagmohan Dalmiya is interested in having Ganguly as IPL GC member. Earlier, during the BCCI AGM, Dalmiya had wanted Ganguly to be made BCCI technical committee chairman but it was decided that former India captain Anil Kumble should be given an extension till September. Ganguly is currently the joint-secretary at Cricket Association of Bengal and shares a good relationship with Dalmiya.
Source:: Indian Express
