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When Srini does a Singh redux

Why should Narayanaswami Srinivasan not step down as the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) now? Does keeping mum about the breach of the Indian Premier League (IPL) players code of conduct not amount to perjury on the parts of both the then Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief (Srinivasan) and the players who were involved in the spot fixing scandal? How exactly is Srinivasan going to explain the role of Gurunath Meiyappan, his son-in-law who was often found languishing in the player dug-out area of the Chennai Super Kings IPL team? If the Justice Mukul Mudgal report on the IPL betting scandal can denote anything, then Meiyappan was in clear complicity of the position of team principal that he enjoyed.

That he was involved in betting is now known far and wide but by just referring to him as a team official and as a cricket enthusiast, as per the statements given by CSK and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and that he had no role in the CSK management, what was the message being given out? That Meiyappan was not enjoying his personal equations with his father-in-law and India Cements director N Srinivasan to place bets and bring the game in disrepute? Srinivasan seems like a power hungry man or why else he would have returned to the position of the BCCI chief after being very unceremoniously removed from the position by the Supreme Court on 28 March, earlier this year?

Srinivasan by not demitting office is doing something similar to a la Manmohan Singh, former prime minister of the nation. Like Singh refused to step down as the PM in the wake of corruption charges being levelled against his council of ministers in various scams like the Adarsh Housing Society, the Agusta Westland, the Coalgate and the 2-G scam, Srinivasan too initially refused to step down as the BCCI chief when reports of betting in IPL came out but ultimately had to accede to the wishes of the apex court for ensuring a fair probe in the scandal.

The audacity of the man can itself be gauged from the fact that he questioned his removal saying that his term ends in September and that he should be allowed to complete it in wake of any conclusive evidence against him. And if that was not enough, Srinivasan in a statement after his removal also mentioned how the BCCI constitution does not have any provision for an interim president. In fact the IPL chief operating officer, Sunder Raman should also be put in the dock for having contacted a bookie eight times during one season and also having failed to report the betting leads with anyone else including the police other than the head of the ICC’s anti corruption security unit (ACSU).

Even the ACSU unit should be questioned as to why he thought certain proof against Meiyappan and a team owner were inconclusive for any action? Srinivasan is essentially a businessman and has never played the game. Had he would have played it, better sense and respect would have emanated. It is unfortunate how he has become so powerful in the cricket fraternity that nobody is willing to speak against his levels of connivance. 
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