During Sunday’s meeting, BCCI president Srinivasan spoke first but there was no word on stepping aside.
An agitated former BCCI chief and Punjab Cricket Association president I S Bindra started demanding Srinivasan’s resignation and Arun Jaitley suggested Srinivasan should step aside considering the gravity of the situation.
Srinivasan relented to the suggestion of the vice-president representing North and said he will step aside for a month, if required. Jaitley urged him to stay away for as long as the inquiry goes on and proposed Shashank Manohar and Jagmohan Dalmiya’s names as caretaker president. Srinivasan objected to Manohar and accepted Dalmiya for obvious reasons.
Most interesting was Jaitley’s role in the meeting. As Bindra later said, more than Srinivasan, “it was Jaitley who had his way”. At the end, the whole meeting seemed to be stage-managed.
There was no decision on the enquiry commission investigating the allegations against Gurunath Meiyappan. It is learnt that the third member will be appointed soon.