Srinivasan faction strengthens base in BCCI

N Srinivasan may not hold a post in the new BCCI regime, but the former president, who was barred from contesting the election until the end of the IPL corruption probe, has managed to get an upper hand not only in terms of number of officials but also in terms of the working committee composition.

Of the nine elected officials, who were appointed during the last week's AGM, seven are from Srinivasan's group. Barring president Jagmohan Dalmiya and secretary Anurag Thakur, who have shared a good rapport with Srinivasan in the past, all the other elected officials are from the Srinivasan camp. Ditto with the working committee, which is the main governing committee within the BCCI.

Only four members of the 21-member committee have been vocal opponents of the BCCI. Two bodies - the Mumbai Cricket Association and Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association - are permanent members, controlling permanent Test centres. Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association has been nominated as the central zone representative by rotation, while the Punjab Cricket Association had to be included as the PCA had staged a Test in the last two years. Incidentally, MPCA president Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the vice-president's election last week while the PCA secretary withdrew his nomination papers in the same election against Srinivasan's candidate, ML Nehru.

As the main governing committee within the board, the working committee ratifies all decisions taken by the BCCI's administration and the schedules of the Indian team's bilateral series. The committee comprises four principal office bearers, five vice-presidents, five permanent Test centres, associations who have hosted a Test match in the preceding two years and a member from each of the five zones by rotation.

The main omission from the working committee has been that of the Vidarbha Cricket Association, controlled by former BCCI president and key Pawar aide Shashank Manohar. The VCA had become a regular member of the working committee over the last decade, after having hosted Test matches regularly.

Over the last couple of years, however, Manohar and Srinivasan have turned into bitter rivals, and Manohar has criticized Srinivasan publicly and during working committee meetings. As a result, the BCCI has not allotted Nagpur a Test match since December 2012, resulting in VCA's exclusion from the committee. Since Nagpur's last Test match, India have played six Tests at home.

The Srinivasan group has also received a shot in the arm after the faction led by Sharad Pawar decided not to challenge the BCCI elections in court over the decision to allow Samarjit Sinh Gaekwad to attend the last week's AGM as the legitimate representative of the Baroda Cricket Association. The decision was made after considering the expert legal advice as well as the administrative scenario within the BCCI.

On March 2, soon after only one of their five candidates won the elections, the Pawar faction had declared its intention to contest AGM chairman Shivlal Yadav's verdict on allowing Gaekwad, the BCA president, to attend the AGM. BCA vice-president Rakesh Parikh, a support of Pawar's group, claimed to have been nominated by the BCA managing committee.

A Pawar aide confirmed that none of the aggrieved associations will move court. It is understood that the group sought expert legal advice and were told that the BCCI rulebook had been followed. Another Pawar ally confirmed that the decision was arrived at after carefully considering the post-election scenario in the BCCI.