Dalmiya king, Srini kingmaker

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 2

If you are of the view that Jagmohan Dalmiya’s return as the BCCI president after a gap of 11 years has ended N Srinivasan’s era, think again. There are several reasons and indicators to prove that, despite the elections and the new office-bearers, Srinivasan will continue to be a key player in the BCCI.

That the Chennai strong man still enjoys a considerable clout within the board is evident by the fact that the BCCI has allowed him to stay on as the International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman. Besides, Dalmiya walking to the chair unopposed and Sharad Pawar, who was projected as the likely candidate to challenge his supremacy, not managing to find even a proposer from the East Zone is another solid proof of Srinivasan still calling the shots.
Barring Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association chief Anurag Thakur’s surprise win over Sanjay Patel for the post of secretary, the ruling Srinivasan camp loyalists swept other posts. Jharkhand Cricket Association’s Amitabh Choudhary was elected the joint secretary, he beat Goa’s Chetan Desai belonging to the anti-Srinivasan faction; Haryana’s Anirudh Choudhary won the treasurer’s position by defeating Rajiv Shukla, another candidate from the rival faction.
While three vice-presidents were elected unopposed, the two other positions also went to the Srinivasan faction with TC Mathews (Kerala, west zone) and C K Khanna (Delhi, central zone) winning the polls.
Khanna defeated the influential Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Mathews edged past Ravi Sawant. The three who were elected unopposed are Andhra’s Gokaraju Gangaraju (South), Assam’s Goutam Roy (East) and ML Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir (North).  BJP leader Thakur won by just one vote (15-14) against Patel, a Srinivasan’s loyalist. It has been learnt that a prominent Central BJP leader instructed Khanna to vote in favour of Thakur. Had it been a tie between Thakur and Patel, the acting BCCI president, Shivlal Yadav, would have used his veto power to cast his vote in favour of his candidate. Yadav, a strong Srinivasan supporter, in all likelihood would have voted in favour of Patel.
The list of BCCI office-bearers reveal how badly the Pawar camp under-estimated the power of Srinivasan, and how intelligently the rival group managed to keep its flock together.
The only setback suffered by the Srinivasan camp was Thakur’s election to the secretary post as he would now represent the BCCI at the ICC’s chief executives’ committee. But given the strength of Srinivasan backers in the BCCI, it would be interesting to see if Thakur could flex his muscles.
One thing that has emerged after the elections is that no single group can actually claim to be in majority. Despite Srinivasan camp thinking it had the majority, Thakur walking away with the plum post proves they were wrong.
“We have this result because there were no clear directions from the top BJP bosses. Had there been a clear message from the top, there was absolutely no chance for the Srinivasan camp to survive,” said a newly-elected BCCI official on condition of anonymity.

Tough day for political bigwigs
It’s not very often that political bigwigs like Sharad Pawar, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Rajeev Shukla are beaten in the game they specialize in – contesting and winning elections. The BCCI election, though, proved to be an altogether different cup of tea for the trio. While Sharad Pawar, who came in with high hopes to end Srinivasan’s reign, didn’t even contest, the other two were beaten by the lightweights. CK Khanna, the Delhi and District Cricket Association official, stunned Scindia by a solitary vote; and Shukla, another Congress leader, was beaten by Haryana’s Anirudh Chaudhary for the post of joint secretary. Anurag Thakur, the BJP leader, did win but it wasn’t an easy victory, what with Sanjay Patel losing just by a single vote.

Srini faces contempt of court: Abdi
Suspended Rajasthan Cricket Association deputy president Mehmood Abdi has alleged that N Srinivasan committed contempt of court by participating in the AGM. Abdi claimed that despite being asked by the SC to stay away from the AGM, Srinivasan participated in the proceedings.

New office-bearers

• President: Jagmohan Dalmiya
• Secretary: Anurag Thakur
• Treasurer: Anirudh Chaudhary
• Joint-secretary: Amitabh Chaudhary
• Vice-presidents: CK Khanna (Central), TC Mathew (West), ML Nehru (North),G Gangaraju (South) Gautam Roy (East)