Men, Matters & Memories
M L Kotru
Anyone hoping that the Board of Control for Cricket in India would redeem itself at Sunday’s emergency meeting of its executive committee in Chennai – with key operators, the lawyer and senior BJP leader, Arun Jaitley, the Union Minister Rajeev Shukla, the man who resigned as the IPL Commissioner just before his term was to end, and the young, starry eyed Anurag Thakur – would have been disappointed by the outcome.
Of course, a lot of back-room dealing, as is the BCCI’s wont, would have gone into it before Jaitley & Co., in collusion with Narayanswamy Srinivasan, got Jagmohan Dalmiya to temporarily replace the controversial President. The temporary bit came in because Srinivasan, the Board President, refused to resign. “Excuse me, I have done no wrong” was his stock reply to the likes of another former President of the Board, I.S. Bindra who had asked for his resignation.
And, you must give full marks to Srinivasan for refusing to accept that his son-in-law Gurunathan Meiyappan could be involved in the raging betting and spot-fixing investigations; he continued to hold on to the myth that Gurunath was no more than an enthusiastic-backer of the Chennai Super Kings, the IPL team owned by India Cements, Srinivasan’s company. He ignores the question how come Shukla, as the IPL boss, invited Gurunath to the meetings of team-owners (franchisees)? How come Gurunath was the one who represented CSK at the bidding (for players) on five different occasions? Of course, Srinivasan was right in saying that he had done no wrong. As a doting dad-in-law that’s expected of him.
When he bought the Chennai Super Kings franchise there was no question of a conflict of interest because the Board itself had amended the Constitution in order to overlook such charges of conflict of interest. Srinivasan was the Board Treasurer when he bought the franchise. So, the charge falls there and then, he seems to suggest.
So far as the charges against his son-in-law go he was being, so said Mr. Srinivasan, investigated by the police on betting charges etc and that would “take its course”.
The honourable man that he must be, Srinivasan asks haven’t I appointed a three-man commission comprising two High Court Judges and the Board Secretary Jagdale to investigate the charge of conflict of interest and betting etc. Just a matter of detail but Jagdale has since resigned as the Board Secretary which leaves the “commission of inquiry” in the lurch, as it were. Does it suit Srinivasan? Of course it does.
The man asked at Sunday’s meeting to keep the seat warm for Srinivasan’s return as President (he is on “leave” at present he says), Jagmohan Dalmiya was six years ago sent out of the Board for financial irregularities when he co-hosted the World Cup with Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The resurrection of Dalmiya was a coup- a sleight of hand-by the Jaitley-Shukla combine. Jaitley, as the senior vice-president of the Board is eyeing the presidentship which he hopes to grab come September.
Instead of being put through a cleansing process Indian cricket runs the risk of being shoved deeper in a muddle. If you don’t believe me, don’t tell me you haven’t read about skipper Mohinder Singh Dhoni’s involvement with a sports promotion company, Rhiti Sports Management, which handles the “business” of Suresh Rainia, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha, all three Dhoni favourites. Dhoni is said to be owning a 15 percent holding in the company which in turn is owned by a Dhoni crony, Arun Pandey.
Like with other murky things associated with Indian cricket Pandey gives twisted explanations. You don’t need a Sherlock Holmes to tell you what’s what.
Rhiti on recall says the company owed the money to Dhoni, converted it into shares for him and withdrew the shares later to make the payment to him. How about Dhoni’s three trusted team-mates becoming Rhiti’s clients?
We know today’s cricketers are cash rich indeed, thanks to the IPL. We also know some of them have invested wisely. But we also have instances when the lure of the extra buck has drawn these very players into the web of the bookies.
But even now it may not be too late. If the once tainted Dalmiya can use the short tenure granted to him on Sunday last, to find redemption for cricket, the effort may be worthwhile to help Indian cricket regain its lost ground.
For that to happen the ‘badli’ President has to make public all the dealings of the Board, including the manner in which the three member commission set up to probe the betting and spot-fixing allegations was constituted. If the two retired judges were handpicked by Srinivasan it is only fair that the probe be entrusted to someone else. The third member, Mr. Jagdale, has already dissociated himself from the commission.
The public outcry against the mafia-like secrecy of BCCI can only be addressed meaningfully when the cosy-club-style of management is abandoned and transparency introduced. Interestingly very few indeed know anything about where the money comes from or even where it goes. Neither the IPL franchise agreements not for that matter the BCCI constitution is in the public domain. The Board which has given itself the right to field an India team cannot hope to get away with such scandalous disregard for public opinion, lack of transparency and accountability.
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