Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Sept 29: The BCCI has called a special general meeting (SGM) at Mumbai, October 4 to elect its new president with Nagpur lawyer Shashank Manohar emerging as a ‘consensus’ candidate. If elected, this will be the second-term for Manohar.
Apprising media of the development, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said here Tuesday that the scrutiny of the nominations will be done October 3. “Shashank Manohar is our consensus candidate,” Thakur told media at the sidelines of the T20 warm-up game between South Africa and India A, adding that if an election happens, N Srinivasan can come and vote at the SGM.
But an election seems unlikely, more so with union minister Arun Jaitley choosing Manohar as the candidate and former BCCI president Sharad Pawar backing the Maharashtra man. Initially, Pawar was not too keen to give up his claims of becoming the BCCI president, but did so when he realised that he would not get the support of the BJP members within the BCCI. The BJP controls 11 of the 31 BCCI votes. Five of the six East Zone units were also against his nomination.
Also when Jaitley visited Jagmohan Dalmiya’s residence in Kolkata, last week, the former administrator’s son had stated that most of the East Zone members were willing to support Manohar, but not Srinivasan or Pawar.
Meanwhile Thakur stated that the Supreme Court hearing on Srinivasan’s eligibility on attending BCCI meeting is slated for October 5. Thakur said Srinivasan cannot attend the meeting but he will not be barred from casting his vote.
Manohar, who has served as BCCI President from 2008 to 2011, has agreed for a second innings as BCCI chief after initially refusing to come into picture.
Jagmohan Dalmiya’s demise left the post vacant and most likely the new CAB president and former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly is likely to propose Manohar’s name for the post.
Manohar is unlikely to face any rival since the Srinivasan faction hardly has numbers to counter the former’s candidature. The last time that Srinivasan called a meeting of his loyalists in Bangalore, only six attended. Among them was also the representative from Orissa.