Shukla, Bansal, Savant to become new BCCI vice-presidents

Senior politician and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association chief Rajiv Shukla will be one of the three new vice-presidents of the BCCI even as South Zone expectedly nominated N Srinivasan for the post of President ahead of the Board's AGM here tomorrow.

MCA president Ravi Savant and DDCA secretary Sneh Bansal are the other two new vice-President after incumbents Arun Jaitley, Niranjan Shah and Sudhir Dabir refused extension for various reasons.

While Bansal replaces his state association president Jaitley as the vice-president from North Zone, Savant, who was an interim treasurer, will be a vice-president replacing veteran Saurashtra CA supremo Shah.

Former IPL chairman Shukla will replace Vidarbha CA's Dabir as the vice-president from the central zone. A busy union minister in the UPA II government, the vice-President's post will help Shukla concentrate on his political commitments as the general elections approach.

While BJP heavyweight and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, Jaitley, has bigger political commitments with general elections in 2014, Dabir and Shah didn't want an year's extension.

Cricket Association of Bengal veteran Chitrak Mitra and HCA president and former India off-spinner Shivlal Yadav were game with an year's extension.

Savant had to be accommodated in the core team with a good designation as he has helped Srinivasan, who is seeking an extended one-year term, out in the crisis situation that emerged due to the IPL spot-fixing scandal.

"Savant was entrusted with a specific job of delaying the MCA elections so that Sharad Pawar doesn't stand in Mr Srinivasan's way. He managed that effectively by delaying the MCA elections to the third week of October. Now although he was never Srinivasan's first choice as treasurer, he had to be rewarded for helping the Chennai strongman," a BCCI official informed.

Haryana Cricket Association chief Anirudh Chaudhary has been nominated for the post of Treasurer, which was to become vacant after Savant is elevated to the vice-President's position.

Before Savant, the Treasurer's designation was held by Ajay Shirke, who resigned in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal, becoming one of the first voices of dissent against Srinivasan.