Indian cricket is at its favourite “will-he, won’t-he” game again over N. Srinivasan, who had sidelined himself from the presidency of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in the aftermath of the spit-fixing and conflict of interest scandals that roiled the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League.
The Tamil Nadu strongman, was back in the news on Friday after the Supreme Court deferred hearing his petition against a Bombay High Court order that had called a two-member probe committee into the IPL scandals instituted by the board “illegal and unconstitutional”.
“It’s a blow for Srinivasan as the Supreme Court has issued the notice in his name among others,” a BCCI official admitted.
With the BCCI working committee set to meet in Kolkata on Sunday, the issue of whether or not Srinivasan will chair the meeting is back on centrestage, and indications are that while he will attend the meeting, interim chief Jagmohan Dalmiya will continue to be in the chair.
Board sources indicated that Srinivasan would be in Kolkata in his capacity as the TN Cricket Association president and would not attempt to make a comeback as head of the BCCI as yet in the wake of the Supreme Court putting back the date of hearing his petition to September 11.
Though Srinivasan was keen to return to the BCCI presidency, especially after the fiasco of the Delhi working committee meeting on August 2, that may now not transpire yet, it was learnt.
The Kolkata meeting assumes importance as the next annual general meeting of the board is where he is expected to stake his claim for a third term as president.
“I’ve no idea about it. Please don’t ask me anything about the meeting, these are tricky and sensitive issues. You’ll come to know after the meeting tomorrow,” Dalmiya was quoted as having said on Saturday.
He did however, say that the announcement of the AGM’s date would be a key issue for discussion at Sundays meeting. Despite the factors working against him, Srinivasan is said to be keen to make a comeback on a technicality and also on the fact that only the BCCI president is empowered to initial papers and documents on its behalf.
As interim head, Dalmiya cannot do so, which means in several areas, the functioning of the board is as good as stalled.
Also on the cards at Sunday’s meeting is tabling of the BCCI’s annual report and balance sheet and how the surplus of `350 crore generated last year would be distributed among its constituent units.
Besides, there is the controversy over the acquisition of land for the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru to deal with for which the BCCI had paid `50 crore before finding out in the state high court that the deal through the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board was illegal.