Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) presidents N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar are confident of announcing the candidature for the the BCCI President post, sources told CNN-IBN.
According the sources, Pawar and Srinivasan are confident of dectating terms at the BCCI elections and securing majority if voting happens.Pawar is also assured by current ICC chairman Srinivasan of a minimum 15 votes as of now, the sources added.
Srinivasan met Pawar on Wednesday and offered to support him in the election for the new board president and discussed to draw up a future course of action.As per the sources, the efforts by Srinivasan and Pawar are aimed at foiling attempts by the BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL chief Rajiv Shukla to choose the late Jagmohan Dalmiya's successor at the top post.
Dalmiya died last week in a Kolkata hospital.Pawar on Thursday said that Srinivasan had told him in their meeting that he was not in the race for the post of the Board president.
Admitting that Srinivasan met him on Wednesday night, Pawar said, "We could not meet in Kolkata during Jagmohan Dalmiya's funeral as I left Kolkata early and he arrived a little late. So he decided to meet me in Nagpur during my visit here," he was quoted as sying by PTI."Srinivasan felt that the present atmosphere at the BCCI was not good and it (an election) will create more bitterness and therefore it would be in the interest of the BCCI not to hold a contest," Pawar said.
Dalmiya's death has created vacancy at the top of BCCI.
According to CNN-IBN sources, the East Zone associations differ in their choice for the next BCCI president. Sources have told that three East Zone associations met N Srinivasan in Bangalore earlier on Thursday and not all are keen on backing the ICC chairman for a return to the helm of Indian cricket.
Meanwhile, the tug of war over Jagmohan Dalmiya's successor at the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) finally came to an end on Thursday with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing former India captain Sourav Ganguly as the president of the state's board, but not everybody is smiling about the announcement.
The sources also claimed that the current BCCI regime is worried about Ganguly taking over the reigns of the CAB.
Ganguly, who has Dalmiya's big shoes to fill in, can be a kingmaker in the BCCI politics as being the president of the CAB, he will probably control two votes in the East Zone in the Board's elections.
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