Pressure mounts on Srini to quit

Pressure mounted on N Srinivasan to quit as BCCI chief as three vice-presidents on Tuesday joined former cricketers and administrators in asking him to respect the Supreme Court observation that he should step down for a fair probe into the IPL fixing scandal.

The beleaguered Srinivasan now appeared isolated even within the Board as three of the five vice-presidents — Shivlal Yadav, Ravi Sawant and Chitrak Mitra — asking him to abide by what the Supreme Court observation. “SC has given its view, nobody can challenge it. We have to accept it. There is no question of going back on it or giving an opinion on that. It has to be carried out in total and BCCI will have to follow whatever the Apex Court has given,” Yadav, a vice-president representing South Zone, said.

Asked if he was willing to do the duty, he said, “Absolutely, I am ready to accept any responsibility given to me.” Another vice-president Ravi Sawant, who is representing West Zone, asked Srinivasan to resign within the next two days, before the matter comes up before the apex court.

“Supreme Court is the highest authority. It the SC has said (Srinivasan must step down), nothing can be done. If the Supreme Court has said he should resign, then he should step down within these two days,” Sawant said. “If there is a vacancy (in the post of BCCI president), the GBM of the BCCI will decide (who will occupy the vacant chair),” he added. Vice-president from East Zone, Chitrak Mitra said that a full-fledged president will take over after Srinivasan steps down. “The SC said Srinivasan should step down. If he does not step down, the SC will pass an order to that effect on March 27. That’s all about it,” Mitra said.

“Since the term of South Zone (for BCCI presidency) is going on, most probably Shivlal will become the president. Last time also when Srinivasan could not attend the BCCI meeting, Shivlal presided over it,” Mitra said. “This time, it will not be an acting president.

Jagmohan Dalmiya was made acting president because at that time Srinivasan only stepped aside not stepped down. It’s different this time, Srinivasan has been told to step down.”

Former cricketers Mohinder Amarnath and Bishan Singh Bedi  also called for Srinivasan’s stepping down.  Former BCCI chief Shash­ank Manohar said if he were in Srinivasan’s position, he would have quit. “If you ask me I would have stepped aside. BCCI is more important than an individual.