N. Srinivasan survives to fight another day.
For most of 25/5/2013 there were reports that N. Srinivasan’s position as BCCI president has become untenable and he has to step down. His son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan had been arrested. He had asked three more days to submit for questioning and Bombay police did not grant that. He could have applied for anticipatory bail but did not. N. Srinivasan was under attack. Some politicians had demanded his resignation. Some said it will be a repeat of 2011 when soon after IPL final Lalit Modi was suspended and after final on 26/5/2013 N. Srinivasan will quit. Names of Arun Jaitley, Shivlal Yadav, Shashank Manohar and D. V. Subba Rao did rounds as his replacement. It was said that Rajeev Shukla and Arun Jaitley will ask N. Srinivasan to step down. Y. P. Singh debunked that and said If N. Srininvasan goes Rajeev Shukla also will have to go. Anurag Thakur, Rajeev Shukla and Arun Jaitley had met Kapil Sibal regarding law on fixing in cricket. At 1.40 p.m. on 25/52103 after coming out of Bombay airport N. Srinivasan told reporters “I have done no wrong. I have no intention to resign. I can’t be bulldozed or railroaded into resigning. Some sources are trying to put pressure.”
On the night of 25/5/2013 N. Srinivasan attended the dinner hosted by Jagmohan Dalmiya. Rajeev Shukla was one of the 17 BCCI members present. Anurag Thakur and Arun Jaitley did not attend. Some speculated it was N. Srinivasan’s last supper. By the morning of 26/5/2013 the reports were N. Srinivasan had the support of 17 BCCI members out of 31 and could not be dislodged. At 4 p.m. he addressed a press conference and made his intent to continue as BCCI president. He had done nothing wrong. He referred to opponents and defaulters, fugitives and vested interests. He meant Subrata Roy, Lalit Modi and Sharad Pawar. He said no member of BCCI has asked his resignation, NCP is not a member of BCCI and people who demand his resignation are not members of BCCI. He spoke against media trial. Next day he told a journalist who questioned him about resignation “You are hounding me.”
Previously N. Srinivasan had said he did not own CSK. India Cements owns CSK. He is a shareholder of CSK.
Who are the sources TV channels quote? Do they exist or are they figments of imaginations? Whatever attributed to sources regarding N. Srinivasan’s resignation proved wrong.
Vindoo (Virendra Randhawa) is said to have mentioned names of film stars. They are not questioned. Delhi police did not arrest IPL players after 16/5/2013. Sometimes there are reports of other players being involved but no arrests.
It was strange to hear Majeed Memon who says a person is innocent till proved guilty and it is for courts to say someone is guilty say N. Srinivasan should resign on the basis of propriety and morality.
To demand a meeting for removal of BCCI president nine members have to sign a requisition and 24 members have to vote against the president.
Shashank Manohar had a role in Dalmiya’s removal. He is not neutral as some people claim him to be. His suggestions regarding clean-up of BCCI are unlikely to be accepted.
N. Srinivasan’s opponents may have to wait till September when BCCI AGM takes place to elect a new president.
I wonder why NDTV 24×7 has four cricketers for discussion on its sports programmes. It was doing well with Ajay Jadeja. Then Sunil Gavaskar joined. Then Ajay Jadeja was out and Dean Jones was in. Around two months back Farokh Engineer joined. On 27/5/2013 there was Arun Lal.
No BCCI member has publicly said he wanted N. Srinivasan to resign. There is no basis for journalists saying some members wanted him to resign.
Well BCCI being targeted by media is not new, this is going on from long time now for whatever reasons. But in this case is quite serious even for non biased neutral cricket fans from India as son in law of board president who was in important position for Chennai Super Kings got arrested for betting. BCCI president called him enthusiast which raises the suspicion as everyone knows that he was not merely an enthusiast but much more than that, why would an enthusiast sit in IPL auctions and team dugout.
The whole episode of Srinivasan abounds in mystery. To save his face and the fate of the CSK, he suddenly proclaims that Gurunath, his son-in-law, is never the owner of the team though there remains concrete proof of the latter being so. Again, it is intriguing to know why the Board members prolong their studied silence.Anyway, the cat must come out of the hat soon.