Three meetings have taken place between Sharad Pawar and N. Srinivasan after the BCCI Annual General Meeting in Chennai on March 2 and surely their supporters, who form large parts of the vote bank, do not think their leaders discussed farmers’ deaths and the cement business.
At the most recent meeting between them in Nagpur, Pawar, known for his knack to make up with adversaries, expressed his desire to become BCCI president for the second time and Srinivasan, according to a close confidant, held out the olive branch, offering Pawar full support. This development may have ended East Zone’s hopes of fielding a candidate of its own, unless there is another round of dramatic developments in the lead-up to the BCCI’s Special General Meeting.
The Srinivasan-camp followers, who assembled in Bengaluru on Thursday, were told about the necessity to back Pawar in order to work for the “betterment of cricket”. A full member representative from East Zone said what was happening was part of the “larger picture”.
The Pawar-Srinivasan bonhomie has not surprised people who have worked with Pawar in cricket administration.
“Obviously, Pawar has been hurt by some actions of the present dispensation which received full support from him at Chennai. He thinks Srinivasan has the numbers to boost his tally to a winning one. Pawar has sure-shot supporters and the same [is the case] with Srinivasan. They have done their arithmetic. Moreover, Pawar has seen Srinivasan stick to his word in the past,” said an official acquainted with the developments.
After the IPL corruption scandal, the two former Board presidents were at loggerheads leading up to the Chennai AGM; their relationship was a far cry from the warm and friendly one that existed in 2005 when they teamed up with Lalit Modi, Shashank Manohar, Rajeev Shukla and Niranjan Shah to break Jagmohan Dalmiya’s firm grip on BCCI affairs.
After a five-year run as Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president starting in 2001, Pawar polled 21 votes to rout a Dalmiya candidate, Haryana’s Ranbir Singh, and become the BCCI president in Kolkata in 2005. Pawar’s term ended in 2008 after which he became president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2010.
Affairs at the BCCI appeared to be smooth — from 2005 — until the upheaval caused by the spot, match-fixing and betting allegations against players and team officials.
Secretary Sanjay Jagdale, treasurer Ajay Shirke and IPL chairman Shukla resigned and the conflict of interest litigation compelled Srinivasan to step back from discharging his duties as elected president for many months. Modi, who had left India, did not return, fearing for his safety.
It was during this time that the likes of Pawar, Manohar, Shah and Shirke closed ranks to oppose Srinivasan and the outcome was Dalmiya being elected president for the second time and Anurag Thakur, secretary.
The young administrator from Himachal Pradesh moved the BJP and a few Union Ministers to gather votes and prevail over Sanjay Patel by one vote. Srinivasan’s panel lost one and won eight at the Chennai AGM.
While Pawar is inclined to ally with Srinivasan, he may have to face some uncomfortable questions from supporters such as Manohar, Shah and Shirke.
Action will pick up once Thakur issues the notice for the SGM. The selection of chairman from among the five vice-presidents will settle matters should there be an election.
