Despite his office bearers breaking their silence and coming to demand his resignation, a defiant cricket control board president N. Srinivasan is no mood to leave his chair for now on his own. The Tamil Nadu businessman who made a hasty visit to Mumbai for the second time in a week once again reiterated his refusal to step aside again.
Hours after Indian Premier League chairman Rajeev Shukla demanded that Srinivasan should “disassociate” himself from the inquiry against his son-in-law Gurunath Mieyappan and the Chennai Super Kings team, the BCCI chief said that Shukla has not said anything new. “I saw Mr. Shukla’s interview. What he says is that this commission has been appointed and I should disassociate myself from the procedure. I had said in Kolkata that I will have nothing to do with the commission — its appointment, its terms of reference and its decision. He has reiterated this only. So there is nothing else,” Srinivasan said here on Wednesday.
“I have nothing to do with the commission. It is independent. Under the operational powers, they have powers to sanction and impose punishment. So, we will just await the results,” he added about the three-member BCCI inquiry committee constituted to probe the spot-fixing and betting allegations against Meiyappan, CSK and three Rajasthan Royals players and the Jaipur franchise as well.
Justice T. Jayaram Chouta, former judge of the Karnataka and Madras high courts, Justice R. Balasubramanian, former judge of the Madras High Court, and BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale who was sitting besides Srinivasan at the press conference in Kolkata, are members of the enquiry commission.
On the demand for his resignation from office-bearers like Jyotiraditya Scindia Srinivasan reacted, “I will not reply to individual reactions.”
Ever since Mieyeppan was arrested on May 24, Srinivasan has been under intense pressure to resign but he has remained defiant. He came to Mumbai on May 25, expecting that Mieyeppan would get a breather from the court.
Instead, the CSK team principal was remanded to custody till May 29. Srinivasan then met lawyers in a city hotel to discuss Mieyeppan’s case before leaving for Kolkata for the IPL final, saying ‘’I can’t be bulldozed into resigning.”
The 68-year-old was in the city on Wednesday but Mieyeppan’s custody was extended.