Post Chief Minister's intervention, East Bengal and SCL bury the hatchet; club to play in ISL

Kolkata: With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's intervention, the clouds of uncertainty over East Bengal's participation in this year's Indian Super League (ISL) was cleared.

In the presence of authorities of both East Bengal club and Shree Cement at Nabanna Sabhaghar on Wednesday, Banerjee announced: "Shree Cement has decided to continue their agreement with East Bengal club. I had reacted sharply the day before yesterday as they (Shree Cement) wrote to me stating that they want to pull out of the agreement. I requested them to continue considering the sentiment of crores of East Bengal fans who would have got disheartened if the club had failed to play in the ISL".

Stating that both East Bengal and Mohun Bagan have great brand value with supporters spread across the globe, Banerjee asked representatives of both East Bengal and Shree Cement to shake hands as a gesture of friendship in her presence and assured of all help needed in future. "Go and shake hands and I will remain in between," the Chief Minister assured.

It needs mention that Shree Cement had decided to end the five-year agreement as the East Bengal authorities were not signing the final agreement and the deadlock lasted for about eight months followed by a massive protest by the red-and gold fans. The Chief Minister convened the meeting to bring an end to the deadlock with a little time left for the tournament to kick off.

Shree Cement's company secretary SS Khandelwal, chief finance officer S Jaju and senior manager Sandeep Kumar attended the meeting with East Bengal club's senior officials Debabrata Sarkar and Sadananda Mukherjee on the other side.

Banerjee said that Mohun Bagan supporters must also be happy today as East Bengal would be playing in ISL. "It is the tradition and culture of Bengal to stand beside one another at the times of difficulties," Banerjee said.