Former India captain Sourav Ganguly emerged as consensus candidate to be Indian cricket board (BCCI)'s new president, with elections unlikely to be held at BCCI's AGM on October 23.
In a unanimous stand against the apex court-appointed Committee of Administrators' (COA) functioning, all members of the BCCI came together in an informal setting at a five-star hotel in Mumbai on Sunday, signalling their emphatic return to the corridors of Indian cricket administration.
The meeting had a fair share of drama as two powerful lobbies, one backed by Anurag Thakur and another by N Srinivasan, pushed for their candidate to be appointed the next president, reports TOI.
Eventually, it was agreed that the formal captain would become the next BCCI president while Karnataka's Brijesh Patel, earlier expected to be president, would take over as chairman of IPL Governing Council.
Jay Shah, from Gujarat and son of Union minister Amit Shah, is likely to be secretary while Arun Singh Thakur from Himachal Pradesh is likely to become treasurer, said the report.
Devajit Saikia from Assam Cricket Association is in contention to be the Board’s joint secretary.
N Srinivasan is learnt to have met Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday to push Patel’s candidature.
Meanwhile, Ganguly too met Shah in New Delhi the same day, conveying his interest in becoming the next president. He was learnt to have the backing of Thakur.
BCCI's nine-member apex council will constitute a president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, joint secretary; male representative of the cricketers’ association; a female representative; a representative from the IPL Governing Council and a representative from the central government.
Former India opener Anshuman Gaekwad will be the male representative of the cricketers association.
Former India women’s captain Shantha Rangaswamy has been elected the female representative of the cricketers’ association while former Delhi cricketer Surinder Khanna will be the IPL GC representative at the Council.