Dalmiya is BCCI chief; Pawar man secretary

Ten years after he was unceremoniously dumped from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), veteran cricket-administrator Jagmohan Dalmiya returned as its president on Monday.

The 74-year-old who turned the BCCI into the richest cricketing body in the world and made it a dominant force, had the backing of Tamil Nadu strongman N Srinivasan and was unanimously elected at the BCCI AGM here.

Anurag Thakur, loyalist of former president Sharad Pawar, beat Sanjay Patel to the post of secretary.

Sources said BJP leader Thakur won by just one vote over Srinivasan loyalist Patel and that Thakur won due to cross-voting. But for this reversal, the Srinivasan group swept the other posts, including that of treasurer, vice-presidents and joint secretary.

Dubbed the “master of comebacks,” Dalmiya, who is also the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, won on expected lines as he was the sole nominee. “It is a victory for cleansing of cricket. Our big focus is to keep the game clean,” Dalmiya said after emerging out of the meeting. “Cricket must develop.”

Asked whether his proximity to Srinivasan helped him in the comeback, Dalmiya said, “I am very close to everybody.”

“I think the message is loud and clear. All members of the BCCI will work together to change the image of cricket in the minds of the people,” Thakur told reporters.

Jharkhand Cricket Association’s Amitabha Choudhary was elected joint secretary, beating Goa’s Chetan Desai, of the anti-Srinivasan faction, while Haryana’s Anirudh Choudhary defeated Rajiv Shukla to be elected as the new treasurer.

While three vice-presidents were elected unopposed, the two other positions also went to the Srinivasan faction with T C Mathew (Kerala, West Zone) and C K Khanna (Delhi, Central Zone) winning the polls.

Khanna defeated Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Mathew edged out Ravi Sawant. The three who were elected unopposed are Andhra Pradesh’s G Ganga Raju (South Zone), Assam’s Goutam Roy (East) and M L Nehru of Jammu and Kashmir (North).

Pawar had initially nursed ambitions of contesting for the post of president, but dropped it as he could not garner support from the East Zone. This time, it was the East Zone’s turn to nominate the presidential candidate.

According to a top official, the AGM also ratified Srinivasan’s position as chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Another decision taken at the AGM was that Thakur will now represent the BCCI at the ICC’s chief executive committee meetings. The AGM also decided to extend the tenure of the current national selection panel for six more months.

A member of the anti-Srinivasan faction who attended the meeting said that Shivlal Yadav chaired the AGM in a very “undemocratic way”.

He claimed that Baroda Cricket Association representative Rakesh Parikh was disqualified from voting and that had a bearing on the results. Two groups from Baroda Cricket Association turned up for the AGM and Samarjitsinh Gaekwad was allowed to participate in the proceedings.

“No satisfactory explanation was given by Yadav as to why Parikh was disqualified. Despite repeatedly asking Yadav, he gave no reply. That ultimately resulted in many of the anti-Srinivasan candidates losing the election,” the member claimed. He said some of the West Zone units may move the court challenging the polls.