BCCI meet plays out to Srini's script as loyalists get pound of flesh

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N Srinivasan anointed himself king of the Indian cricket board but he doesn't yet know whether the kingdom is his.

It took the defiant Chennai strongman less than 20 minutes on Sunday to get himself re-elected as board president for another year although he can take charge only if cleared by the Supreme Court.

There was uneasy calm on 'floor 11' of a city five-star hotel, Srinivasan's favourite venue to conduct his battles, as he ensured a smooth passage of his entire panel at the BCCI annual general meeting, ahead of an SC hearing on Monday.

There were members who didn't want him to take over BCCI's reins. But nobody dared to raise a voice as the unshaven president-in-exile was home and dry, keeping his promise to the media that he would come back to power on September 29.

"The court hasn't stopped him from getting elected as the president or chairing the meeting...So he did both on Sunday, but he told all members that he would start functioning as the president if the Supreme Court clears him," the new central zone vice-president Rajiv Shukla told the waiting media, coming out of the meeting.

His return to power was never in doubt, but once he took over, he ensured there was no whiff of opposition on any front. His first major nomination was Orissa's Ranjib Biswal as IPL chairman, even as his four-month old ally, Jagmohan Dalmiya, had strong reservations against it.

The Dalmiya camp didn't want Biswal on the hot-seat, but Srinivasan hardly bothered as he went about rewarding the member who has stood by him through the tumultuous times.

"I know it's a responsible post and I will look to work with the help of all the members," Biswal told the TOI, when asked whether he would like to add anything to Dalmiya's operation clean up agenda.

Dalmiya, the former BCCI president who was made caretaker chief of BCCI after the emergent working committee meeting on June 2, saw his powers drastically curtailed.

He wasn't given any plum post that he was hoping for and was relegated to heading the north-east development committee.

"It's strange why he accepted this post...May be he feels that Srinivasan might still allot Sachin Tendulkar's 200th Test to Eden Gardens, which will be decided on October 3 in the tours and fixtures committee meeting in Mumbai," said a source close to the developments.

Dalmiya's loyalists argued that the Cricket Association of Bengal president was kept in the loop and the other members of the association were given posts in committees such as NCA, finance, marketing and IPL. "We don't think it's a letdown for Dalmiya," a CAB member said.

All the south zone members who helped Srinivasan tide over the difficult times were made chairmen of different committees, which meant G Gangaraju (Andhra) headed finance, T C Mathew (Kerala) NCA and Vinod Phadke (Goa) media.

The biggest surprise of the day, though, was his decision to remove Mumbai man Chandrakant Pandit from the post of the U-19 selection committee chairman.

He was replaced by Connor Williams, from secretary Sanjay Patel's unit, Baroda. The decision raised a few eyebrows.

It's understood that Pandit, who has done some good work over the last one year, has felt humiliated by the decision and is planning to return from Vizag, where he is with the U-19 Indian team which is playing a quadrangular series.


N Srinivasan More Stills


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