Hectic lobbying ahead of Indian board's AGM

'The way the elections are being held this time leaves no scope for complaint' - IS Bindra © Getty Images

Hectic lobbying continued on Sunday as leading lights of the Indian board made a beeline to convey their points of view to TS Krishnamurthy, the Supreme Court-appointed observer, ahead of the Indian board's November 29-30 Annual General Meeting. With both the ruling group and its rivals meeting Krishnamurthy with their submissions since morning, the stage is now set for another high-voltage election for control of the country's richest sports body.

Unlike earlier occasions, the two lobbies are camping at different hotels. While the members owing allegiance to Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the board president, and Jagmohan Dalmiya, his predecessor, have put up at the Taj Bengal, those supporting the opposition combine led by IS Bindra and Raj Singh Dungarpur, both board ex-chiefs, are lodged at the Oberoi Grand a few kilometers away.

"We needed a separate base for our logistical purposes like paper work. And so we shifted elsewhere," Bindra said. Lalit Modi of the Rajasthan Cricket Association, owing allegiance to the opposition lobby, alleged that the ruling group had tried to create problems for them in the adjourned AGM in September by attempting to cancel hotel bookings. "So, we have set up our own base this time," he said.

The dissenters have already named Sharad Pawar, a political heavyweight, as their presidential candidate, and are likely to nominate Niranjan Shah, MP Pandove and N Srinivasan for the posts of secretary, joint secretary and treasurer respectively. Apart from Mahendra trying his luck for another round at the top, the Dalmiya-led combine today elevated Goutam Dasgupta, the present joint secretary, to contest for the secretary's post, and put Brijesh Patel and Jyoti Bajpai, present treasurer, in the fray for the posts of joint secretary and treasurer respectively.

While the Dalmiya lobby seems to be working quietly, holding a series of group meetings and presenting their case to Krishnamurthy, the dissenters were quite upbeat. "We are going to win easily," said Bindra. He even went to the extent of predicting that the Dalmiya group would shy away from the election and there may not be any contest at all.

Krishnamurthy had a hectic day meeting representatives of a large number of affiliate units and hearing their demands and counter-demands on authorisation of nominees to attend the AGM. Apparently, the dispute surrounds the representation of four affiliates - Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand/Bihar, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

The case of Jharkhand/Bihar is particularly interesting. The ruling group had given affiliation to the newly formed Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) after the bifurcation of Bihar, but three days ago Krishnamurthy had held that the old Bihar Cricket association (BCA), established in 1935, and now led by Laloo Prasad Yadav, another heavyweight politician, had the right to vote. This effectively meant a 'no' for JSCA's voting right. While JSCA is considered close to Dalmiya, BCA is with the opposition group. Amitabh Chowdhury, the JSCA president, and Bihar Cricket Association's B N Singh met Krishnamurthy during the day and argued their cases. A further twist was added when Kirti Azad, a Dalmiya loyalist and former Test cricketer who is Cricket Control Association of Bihar president, met Krishnamurthy and demanded that his organisation be given associate membership of the board by derecognising the Laloo-led BCA.

Others who met Krishnamurthy included Dalmiya, Mahendra, Bindra, Dungarpur, Rajeev Shukla and Lalit Modi. The Bindra group claimed that it submitted 21 representations, including those of Services and Universities, on authorisation for attendance at the AGM. "We have total faith in Krishnamurthy. The way the elections are being held this time leaves no scope for complaint," he said.

Meanwhile, it has been decided that unlike on previous occasions, the elections to the four top posts would be held simultaneously and the names of all the contesting candidates for each of the slots would figure in the same ballot paper for the members to indicate their choices. Goutam Dasgupta said the voters' list would be released by Krishnamurthy tomorrow following which the process of filing nomination begins. The filing of nomination would be over tomorrow evening.