Srinivasan, Sharad Pawar meet as BCCI Presidential battle heats up

N Srinivasan

Nagpur: The intense leadership battle in the BCCI after Jagmohan Dalmiya's demise has taken a new turn with known foes and former Board chiefs N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar holding a surprise meeting in Nagpur.

Current ICC President Srinivasan, who has been at loggerheads with Pawar for a long time, is learnt to have met the Maratha strongman for a couple of hours at former Central Minister and NCP leader Praful Patel's residence late last night.

Pawar is currently on a tour to drought-hit Vidarbha. Although the details of what exactly transpired in the meeting is not known, it is learnt that the current leadership vacuum in the Board was on the agenda.

Srinivasan, who had arrived in Nagpur by a special flight, is expected to meet his loyalists in the Board in Bangalore later today.

It is learnt that around 8 to 9 units will be meeting the ICC chairman to discuss the roadmap ahead of the Special General Body meeting and possibly shortlist a candidate to
replace Dalmiya, who passed away last Sunday.

There is a possibility that Amitabh Chaudhary, who has emerged as one of the presidential candidates from the East Zone will be in attendance along with majority of South units as well as some of the eastern units.

Also holding meetings today is BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur, who has called up members of a few of the eastern unit factions to discuss what's on their mind as he is pitching for IPL Chairman Rajeev Shukla's name for presidency. Srinivasan and Pawar's meeting is one of the most surprising developments in the he battle for BCCI President's post so far.

Pawar was among the first to raise his voice against Srinivasan after his son-in-law was implicated in the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal. Srinivasan had to eventually step aside as BCCI chief after being chided by the Supreme Court.