New Delhi: After another round of hefty speculations on who's likely to become the next Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) boss, involving the name of a 'steadfast and clean' Shashank Manohar, it's secretary Anurag Thakur on Sunday joined the clarion call by saying there will be an "honest President" at the helm of Indian cricket.
The 40-year-old blue-eyed boy of Indian cricket administration, who is also a three-time Bhartiya Janata Party MP, reportedly said that the BCCI will only appoint someone who can bring in transparency and accountability as the next president of the board.
"One who can help us in bringing more transparency & accountability to bring in reforms, only that person can be the BCCI Pres," ANI quoted Thakur as saying.
We will give you an honest President (BCCI) who can bring in reforms: Anurag Thakur, BCCI Secy pic.twitter.com/6rtYqEW5lG
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 27, 2015
"We will give you an honest President (BCCI) who can bring in reforms," he added.
One who can help us in bringing more transparency & accountability to bring in reforms, only that person can be the BCCI Pres:Anurag Thakur
— ANI (@ANI_news) September 27, 2015
Thakur's comments can be seen as a stamp approval for Manohar, who is known as the Mr Clean in Indian cricket.
In an interesting but altogether unexpected turn events, former president Manohar emerged yesterday as one of the primary candidates for the BCCI's top post, after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley convened a meeting at his residence. The meeting was reportedly attended by some of the game's known power brokers like former treasurer Ajay Shirke.
Earlier today, Shirke made it clear that Manohar – who was reluctant to return as the board president – is all set to take over the reins of the Indian cricket once again.
In another report, in the Times of India, Shirke said that "Manohar is our unanimous choice... The formal announcement regarding this will be made soon."
It's worth noting that both Manohar and Shirke are known to be supporters of Sharad Pawar, who was recently reported to have joined hands with his old nemesis N Srinivasan as the Indian cricket politics continue to take unpredicted developments following the sudden demise of it's president Jagmohan Dalmiya on last Sunday.
What has emerged from this agreement between the Anurag Thakur faction, which is backed by the ruling BJP regime in the centre, and Pawar's West Zone, is the obvious sidelining of International Cricket Council (ICC) chairman Srinivasan.
The Tamil Nadu strongman indeed tried to patch up with Pawar in a bid to continue is stronghold, despite a series of negative developments involving a strongly-worded directive from the Supreme Court to avoid meddling in matters of Indian cricket as long as his conflict of interests continues to exist through the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings.
Besides, the return of Manohar will be seen, at least in certain quarters, as a vindication of the recent efforts to clean the image of Indian cricket which went through a harrowing time following the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal in 2013.
