Kolkata: When in dire straits, join hands with your foe! The Anurag Thakur-N Srinivasan bonhomie at a meeting in Bengalure on Saturday strengthens the fact that mutual interests can make friends out of enemies.
Now assess this situation: Thakur has been stripped of his position as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president along with Ajay Shirke, the secretary. Srinivasan who once ruled the roost as the BCCI president was shown the exit door by Thakur and the now chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Shashank Manohar who replaced Jagmohan Dalmiya in BCCI after the latter’s sad demise. It was Thakur who was a sworn enemy of Srinivasan once upon a time.
But with the apex court having ended their administrative careers, it’s time to forget enmity and bridge the gap. And Thakur and Srinivasan have done exactly that. And it’s just not Srinivasan and Thakur, Shirke, joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary and treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhary also were part of the so-called informal meeting. And the Indian Premier League (IPL) chairman Rajeev Shukla wasn’t missing too.
“Yes, it was an informal meeting. Thakur and Srinivasan were very cordial with each other. Obviously the current situation was discussed. Srinivasan asked if we were all together in it or not. Even Thakur understands, he needs Srinivasan by his side now. Out of 24, at least 18 are still Srini loyalists,” a state association official told PTI. Will the state associations prevent the new set of observers from hosting matches at cricket stadiums? The official said, “That’s absurd. Nothing of that sort has been discussed. At least it won’t happen in my association,” said the official from one of the eastern state units.
Now, are the attendees of the meeting planning to set up a parallel body? “Today’s meeting was about checking unity and we will again have a meeting in two weeks time. Let the January 19 pass and we can take it on from there. As of now, nothing concrete has been discussed. There is a Supreme Court verdict and we can’t do anything about it now,” he added.
To be honest enough, it’s quite unlikely that the ICC will recognise a parallel body overriding the Supreme Court ruling. In that case, the meeting at Bengaluru would hardly have any relevance.
So sad, on one hand the Indian cricketers are sweating it out on the ground but the power-hungry officials are still harbouring hopes to retain control.
(With inputs from PTI)