Pressure mounts on Srinivasan to quit
30 May 2013 12:35 AM GMT
Pressure from within mounted against N Srinivasan’s continuance as BCCI chief with heavyweights Rajeev Shukla and Arun Jaitley coming out in the open as Sharad Pawar slammed the incumbent who still refused to heed calls for resignation. Pawar, a former BCCI president, with whom Srinivasan has fallen out, on Wednesday broke his silence and demanded a home ministry probe into all the 75 matches of the IPL in the wake of spot-fixing and betting allegations.
Following all round attack on Srinivasan’s continuance as BCCI chief in the wake of arrest of his son-in-law and CSK team owner Gurunath Meiyappan on charges of betting in IPL, board heavyweight Arun Jaitley shed his reluctance and asked the BCCI chief to ‘disassociate’ himself from the inquiry but stopped short of directly asking him to quit.
Srinivasan continued his defiance and brushed aside demands for his resignation. Board sources said that efforts were on to rally support among BCCI members to initiate steps for building more pressure so that he steps down on his own.
But politics in the board showed with divisions emerging. Former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, who does not get along well with Pawar, parried all questions on whether Srinivasan should resign and said the board-appointed inquiry commission is a ‘very, very good step.’ While some state units today joined the chorus against Srinivasan, some also backed him.
Pawar, a former BCCI chief under whom Srinivasan worked as secretary, made no direct demand for Srinivasan’s ouster but claimed that when he was at the helm, such nonsense had not happened. The union minister said he was saddened by the scandal surrounding the IPL and strongly endorsed former BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s suggestion for referring all the matches to a probe agency for ascertaining truth about allegations of spot-fixing. Government, which has no control of the BCCI, also stepped in with the sports ministry issuing a statement demanding Srinivasan’s resignation on moral grounds.
Following all round attack on Srinivasan’s continuance as BCCI chief in the wake of arrest of his son-in-law and CSK team owner Gurunath Meiyappan on charges of betting in IPL, board heavyweight Arun Jaitley shed his reluctance and asked the BCCI chief to ‘disassociate’ himself from the inquiry but stopped short of directly asking him to quit.
Srinivasan continued his defiance and brushed aside demands for his resignation. Board sources said that efforts were on to rally support among BCCI members to initiate steps for building more pressure so that he steps down on his own.
But politics in the board showed with divisions emerging. Former BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya, who does not get along well with Pawar, parried all questions on whether Srinivasan should resign and said the board-appointed inquiry commission is a ‘very, very good step.’ While some state units today joined the chorus against Srinivasan, some also backed him.
Pawar, a former BCCI chief under whom Srinivasan worked as secretary, made no direct demand for Srinivasan’s ouster but claimed that when he was at the helm, such nonsense had not happened. The union minister said he was saddened by the scandal surrounding the IPL and strongly endorsed former BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s suggestion for referring all the matches to a probe agency for ascertaining truth about allegations of spot-fixing. Government, which has no control of the BCCI, also stepped in with the sports ministry issuing a statement demanding Srinivasan’s resignation on moral grounds.
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