Pawar resigns from BCCI marketing committee

In a fresh eruption of dissent in the Indian board, Sharad Pawar resigned from its marketing committee, a move which could destabilise the recent uneasy truce worked out among rival factions over the membership of the high-powered committee that handles television rights and other marketing matters.

The resignation of Pawar, union agriculture minister and a candidate for BCCI presidency, came barely two days ahead of the committee's crucial meeting to decide on the issue of television rights. Meanwhile, there were reports that N Srinivasan, another member of the committee, had also put in his papers, though this news could not be confirmed.

There were conflicting reports on why Pawar, who is also the president of the Mumbai Cricket Association, resigned from the post. While a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association said that Pawar, who also heads the Union Government's Disaster Management Committee, resigned as he could not devote time in view of the earthquake relief work, a key dissident faction leader Raj Singh Dungarpur claimed that Pawar had quit because the BCCI accounts were not in order.

"Mr Pawar has resigned from the BCCI marketing committee and has sent a letter to this effect. He has said in the letter that because of his busy schedule in the government's disaster management cell he would not be able to devote time to the committee's matters," a source in the MCA told PTI.

Dungarpur said Pawar and Srinivasan chose to quit as they were not shown all the papers and because of a lack of transparency in the functioning of the committee.

Pawar was not in the original marketing committee of the BCCI but was inducted into the high-profile panel at the last AGM of the board in Kolkata which was adjourned last month. Pawar will thus not be attending the committee's sitting on Sunday to be chaired by Ranbir Singh Mahendra, the BCCI president.

The committee is expected to open the sealed technical bids received by it for the telecast rights for the next fours years, but has been directed by the Delhi High Court not to disclose the outcome of the meeting following the filing of a petition on the telecast rights issue. The BCCI has been told told to inform the outcome to the court on October 19, when the matter comes up for further hearing.

Srinivasan is currently in Geneva on a private visit and will return only on October 17, which means he will also miss the committee's meeting on Sunday.