With the sudden demise of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the seat of the BCCI President is once again vacant.
While there are several names doing the rounds, the two men who have an edge over the rest are Rajeev Shukla and Sharad Pawar.
Rajeev Shukla: The name of the the former BCCI vice-president and current IPL chairman is doing the rounds and he has been trying hard to lobby support in the East since BCCI rules state that the six members of the East Zone will have the first say in picking the replacement considering it is their turn to elect the president till 2017.
Sharad Pawar: The MCA president had earlier expressed his willingness to get back to being the BCCI President to his camp. Interestingly, Pawar might have to seek support from his old foe N Srinivasan, who might have no problems whatsoever in doing so since his faction doesn’t have a strong candidate for president.
Srinivasan was forced to step down as BCCI president following the IPL spot-fixing scandal, in which his son-in-law and former Chennai Super Kings team principal Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested on charges of betting.
The decision to appoint Dalmiya’s successor will be taken at a Special General Meeting to be called by Secretary Anurag Thakur.
Interestingly, Shukla is said to have the backing of the BJP leadership.
“One has to calculate well and according to the current situation, Shukla is the most favoured candidate. He is not only on good terms with Thakur, but also has the backing of top BJP officials. Keeping those equations in mind, one must realize that Pawar doesn’t really have that support.
Also, it is East Zone’s turn to nominate the president and it is clear that Shukla is trying to work that angle in his favour. But relations change overnight in the BCCI,” a senior board official was quoted as saying in the report.
