Srini eyes southern support

President-in-exile holds meeting of units from region ahead of AGM

With a fortnight to go for the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Chennai on September 29, under pressure BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan has already started working on his bid to retain the hot seat for one more season. 

According to reliable sources in the BCCI, Srinivasan had called all the BCCI affiliated units from the southern part to assemble in Chennai to pledge their support for the Tamil Nadu strongman ahead of the AGM, but the absence of Goa Cricket Association (GCA) and Andhra CA from the meeting has led to speculations about an election being on the cards.

“Yes, the BCCI president (Srinivasan) did call the southern units for a meeting in Chennai. But I had some work over here and couldn’t attend the Chennai meeting,” Goa Cricket Association president Vinod Phadke told PTI over phone on Sunday when questioned about his absence from the meeting.

Asked whether it was about Srinivasan wanting the southern units to pledge their support for him, Phadke said, “It was an internal meeting and I can’t tell you anything about it.”

There are reports that a number of affiliated units out of 31 want former BCCI president and eminent Nagpur lawyer Shashank Manohar to contest the elections against Srinivasan and buzz is that GCA is the unit that will propose his name.

When queried on the matter, Phadke gave an open-ended reply. “We haven’t yet decided on that matter,” GCA top boss replied.

It has been learnt that apart from Srinivasan’s home state association TNCA, Hyderabad CA, Kerala CA and KSCA representatives attended Sunday’s meeting. The last date for filing nominations for elections is 11:30 am on September 28 while any withdrawal can happen on the floor of the meeting.

In order to contest a BCCI presidential election, an individual’s name needs to be proposed by a state unit from a different zone and duly seconded by another unit of that particular zone.

Srinivasan has been in the news after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police on allegations of betting on CSK matches in the sixth edition of Indian Premier League.

Meiyappan was later released on bail and Srinivasan had recused himself from the day-to-day functioning of the BCCI but has recently chaired the disciplinary committee meeting that handed life ban to former India international S Sreesanth.

There is also a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Cricket Association of Bihar in Supreme Court demanding a fresh panel to be formed in order to carry out the inquiry into the IPL corruption after the Bombay High Court declared the constitution of the earlier probe panel by BCCI as illegal.