BCCI meeting shifted, Muthiah to meet Bharati

The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) president AC Muthiah has a few tasks cut out for him this week. First he will meet the Union Sports Minister Uma Bharati on Monday to brief her on the Madhavan committee report and urge her to reconsider the decision on India's tour to Pakistan. Then he will attend the board's two-day Special General Body meeting in Calcutta on Wednesday to discuss the report.

The BCCI's disciplinary committee is scheduled to meet the players named in the report on Tuesday in New Delhi, instead of Calcutta, at their request. The BCCI's vice-president CK Khanna who is also on the three-member panel said "the meeting with the players has been shifted to Delhi for November 28 on their request."

Khanna who replaced Kamal Morarka on the committee has requested the BCCI president AC Muthiah to drop him from the panel as Morarka is back from his trip abroad. Muthiah and Ram Prakash are the other two members on the panel. They will give the five players Mohd. Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja, Manoj Prabhakar, Nayan Mongia and Ajay Sharma a final opportunity to present their side of the story before placing their findings in front of the special general body meeting of the BCCI.

Meanwhile, AC Muthiah is expected to meet Uma Bharati on Monday in New Delhi to discuss the report submitted by Madhavan to the board on Saturday. PTI sources quoted that the board chief is also expected to raise the issue of India's proposed tour to Pakistan which has been cancelled after the government refused permission and the minister herself was quoted as saying that there would be no reconsideration of the tour.

In a related development, six Members of Parliament (MPs) including former minister of state for external affairs Eduardo Faleiro have written to the Prime Minister to reconsider the Government's decision on the country's proposed tour of Pakistan. In the letter, the six MPs have stated that "this decision would further damage the game which is being swamped by match-fixing allegations. Moreover, cricket has millions of fans both in India and Pakistan and is the most important vehicle of people-to-people contact among the countries of the sub-continent."

They have also urged the PM not to mix politics with sports. "Politics often divides people while sports unites. We urge you to stand up to the forces of extremism and fundamentalism," they said. The other five MPs who have signed the letter are Mirza Abdul Rashid (NC), S Ramachandra Pillai (CPI-M), R S Gavai (RPI), Dhammaviriyo (RJD) and Abani Roy (RSP).