The Hindu : Sport : Ganguly's tirade against Dalmiya

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Saturday, Jul 22, 2006

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Ganguly's tirade against Dalmiya

Special Correspondent

Photo: PTI

BACK IN THE NEWS: Sourav Ganguly, whose e-mail added a new twist to the Cricket Association of Bengal elections, seen here signing an autograph for a Pakistani fan in Northamptonshire on Friday.

KOLKATA: With just days remaining for a showdown, the likes of which has not been seen in the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) in recent years, former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has sent an e-mail that added muscle to the `oust Jagmohan Dalmiya campaign.'

Ganguly, now playing in the English county championship, in the e-mail, sent to one of his friends, and released to the media here on Friday by his brother Snehasish, has hit out at the ruling group. Ganguly has for the first time made a move in favour of the faction headed by city police commissioner, Prasun Mukherjee.

Ganguly, in his message, called for severe punishment to "people who leak e-mails and sacrifice players' careers.''

In the run-up to the CAB elections, slated for July 30, Ganguly was presumed to be with the group opposed to the Dalmiya group. But this was for the first time that Ganguly had come out in the open and asked for support for a change at the CAB helm.

The e-mail said: "There are people in the CAB who are playing with players' careers to suit them. They should not be let off scotfree as it takes years of hard work to reach a certain level in sport. I am happy that the Chief Minister (Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) and people concerned are addressing the issues.''

Later at a media conference, Dalmiya released his panel for the elections and expressed confidence off coming through the elections comfortably.

When questioned on the e-mail sent by Ganguly, Dalmiya shot back sarcastically, "what another e-mail leak.''

When questioned repeatedly, he doubted the authenticity of the e-mail and asked the media to check with the people who had released it and refused to entertain any questions on Ganguly or the points mentioned in the e-mail.

When told he had filed his nomination against the wishes of the State CM, Dalmiya said, for the past several days he had held parleys with the State Sports Minister and tried to work out a compromise but could not do so because there was no satisfactory reply from the other side.

"I am contesting in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the affiliated units and the working committee,'' he said.

City police chief Prasun Mukherjee said his panel would come out with its full set of nominations on Saturday. Mukherjee filed his nominations on Thursday and former Ranji star Raja Venkat filed his nomination as one of the joint secretaries on Friday.

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