TEAM HERALD
sports@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa Cricket Association abstained from attending the Chennai meeting called by BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan who has already started working on his bid to retain the hot seat for one more season.
With a fortnight to go for the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting in Chennai on September 29th, under pressure BCCI president-in-exile N Srinivasan had called all the BCCI affiliated units from southern part to assemble in Chennai to pledge their support for the Tamil Nadu strongman ahead of the AGM.
According to PTI sources in the BCCI, the absence of Goa Cricket Association (GCA) and Andhra CA from the meeting has led to speculations about an election being on the cards
“Yes, the BCCI president (Srinivasan) did call the southern units for a meeting in Chennai. But I had some work over here and couldn’t attend the Chennai meeting,” Goa Cricket Association president Vinod Phadke told newsmen when questioned about his absence from the meeting.
Asked whether it was about Srinivasan wanting the southern units to pledge their support for him, Phadke said, “It was an internal meeting and I can’t tell you anything about it.”
There are reports that a number of affiliated units out of 31 want former BCCI president and eminent Nagpur lawyer Shashank Manohar to contest the elections against Srinivasan and buzz is that the Goa Cricket Association is the unit that will propose his name.
When Press Trust of India queried on the matter, Phadke gave an open-ended reply. “We haven’t yet decided on that matter,” GCA top boss replied.
It has been learnt that apart from Srinivasan’s home state association TNCA, Hyderabad CA, Kerala CA and KSCA representatives attended today’s meeting.
The last date for filing nominations is 11:30 am on September 28th while any withdrawal can happen on the floor of the meeting.
In order to contest a BCCI presidential election, an individual’s name needs to be proposed by a state unit from a different zone and duly seconded by another unit of that particular zone.
Srinivasan has been in the news after his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan was arrested by the Mumbai Police on allegations of betting on CSK matches.
