Srinivasan has his way

On the face of it, incumbent President N Srinivasan bowed down to public pressure and agreed to step aside as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). This follows a compromise formula that has been worked out as part of a well-planned stop-gap option that has an overbearing presence of Srinivasan, albeit by default. This is first time in the Board's turbulent history that a BCCI president has stood down in whatever capacity and a replacement named in his stead. Former chief of the Board, Jagmohan Dalmiya, who is the present President of Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), will head a four-member 'interim arrange- ment' to run the Board, more than a fortnight after the spot-fixing scandal rocked cricketing world. Cricketing circles are aghast at the turn of events on a day when the beleaguered Srinivasan was to put in his papers owning moral responsibility for the emergence of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan's name in the biggest scandal to hit the sport in recent times. In stark contrast, Srinivasan announced that he will not discharge his duties as the President till such time the probe is completed. Consequent to the arrangement, Srinivasan will not carry out his duties as BCCI president until the commission appointed to conduct an inquiry into the betting and spot-fixing charges in IPL 2013 completes its task. During this period, Dalmiya will run the daily affairs of the board.It is widely believed that Srinivasan virtually scored over all his 'opponents', causing the biggest dent to the pro-Sharad Pawar lobby. It may be recalled that when Pawar, also a former BCCI and ICC chief, mobilized anti-Srinivasan forces, Dalmiya had made it plan and clear and in no uncertain terms that he would never ally with any Pawar-led group. Projecting Dalmiya's name was the clincher because key anti-Srinivasan members like Arun Jaitley, Rajeev Shukla and Anurag Thakur appeared to have tilted the scales in favour of Dalmiya and softened the blow on Srinivasan. This is even as Pawar wanted former chief Shashank Manohar as the interim President. What makes the entire arrangement a deplorable one is that the 73-year-old suave Dalmiya was forced out of office when he was confronted with corruption charges running into crores. The question being asked is would he name a forthright personnel in the three-member probe panel.