An emergency meeting of the BCCI will be held in Chennai on Sunday in which beleaguered president Srinivasan may announce his resignation from the post after he has been virtually isolated by his team in the Board.
As pressure mounted on him to quit in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal and the arrest of his son-in-law on betting charges, the BCCI has advanced the Working Committee Meeting, which Mr. Srinivasan had planned to convene next Saturday.
“An emergent Working Committee Meeting will be held in Chennai at 11 a.m.”, BCCI Game Development Manager Ratnakar Shetty said in an announcement that came hours after Vice-president Arun Jaitley and Joint Secretary Anurag Thakur told reportes to wait for a “significant” development in a day.
Sources in the Board said Mr. Srinivasan may announce his decision to quit the post and he has discussed this with some of the officials.
In an indication that the resignation might come on Sunday, IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla said “some announcement is likely to be made. Wait for a day.”
The meeting of the all-powerful Working Committee may decide on the interim chief for the Board till a new president is elected.
The under-fire Mr. Srinivasan’s adamant stand of sticking to the post of BCCI president despite the damaging scam, prompted Board Treasurer Ajay Shirke and Secretary Sanjay Jagdale to resign in protest on Friday night.
The crisis in the BCCI has deepened with every passing day after Mr. Srinivasan’s son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested for alleged involvement in betting.
Mr. Srinivasan, whose company India Cements owns CSK, refused to resign despite repeated calls for his ouster, insisting that he did no wrong.
Mr. Srinivasan, however, convened an Emergency Working Committee Meeting on June 8, hours after information spilled out that the ICC had warned Mr. Meiyappan to keep away from bookies at the start of IPL.
Mr. Thakur had reiterated on Sunday morning that Mr. Srinivasan should resign in the interest of fairness.
“He should step aside for a transparent and fair probe,” he said.
A distressed Board Vice-president Niranjan Shah said the scandal has become increasingly “disgraceful” but stopped short of demanding Mr. Srinivasan’s resignation.
“It is much regrettable and distressing that the situation is getting aggravated in increasingly disgraceful manner...the matter pertaining resignation of BCCI’s president Mr. Srinivasan should rather be a matter between himself and the rules and regulations of the Board,” Mr. Shah said in a statement.
