Barred by the Supreme Court from contesting the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s elections, president-in-exile Narayanswami Srinivasan has called some of the affiliated units for an informal meeting in Chennai on Thursday to decide his future course of action.
"Srinivasan has called a meeting, in Chennai on February 5, which can be called a core committee meeting of the closest associates. Obviously, the date of the AGM and future course of action will be decided on that day. We will also get a clearer picture about Srini's course of action on that day," a top BCCI member, who will attend the meeting, said on Monday.
- The Supreme Court judgement on the IPL fixing probe
While key office-bearers, like secretary Sanjay Patel and interim president Shivlal Yadav, are likely to be present, joint-secretary Anurag Thakur, who apparently has "not been intimated" about the meeting, could be a notable absentee.
"Thakur will be busy as Delhi is going to polls on February 7 and there are lot of political commitments. But he did express his surprise that Srinivasan has not intimated him about the said meeting. He only came to know about it through another BCCI bigwig. He was taken aback as he is the sitting BCCI joint-secretary, who is an executive functionary," a source very close to the BJP MP and president of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) said.
The source also hinted that Thakur may no longer be part of the Srinivasan camp after having been one of the important members of that faction.
"Anurag told a few of his close associates that probably Srinivasan didn't like his straight forward stance of telling him to "step aside" after the spot-fixing controversy and subsequent arrest of Gurunath Meiyappan happened in 2013. You can say that probably, he is no longer a part of the Srinivasan faction," the source added.
According to a top BCCI official, BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla, Assam Cricket Association's secretary Bikash Baruah have been invited by Srinivasan.
Shukla is among the contenders for the BCCI president's post if he gets the support of the east zone units.
However, till Monday evening, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) had not received any intimation about the Chennai meeting.
