IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla on Saturday resigned from the high-profile position in the wake of the raging spot-fixing scandal that has rocked Indian cricket, piling up pressure on N Srinivasan to follow suit.
A day before the emergency meeting of the working committee in Chennai, Shukla took the decision to quit saying that he felt it necessary to do so in the light of the recent developments.
“I have decided to quit as IPL chairman. It is a decision which I was pondering over for some time. I think it is time to step down,” Shukla said.
Shukla said that he also took into account the resignations of BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale and treasurer Ajay Shirke before taking the decision to step down.
“Sanjay Jagdale and Ajay Shirke resigned in the best interest of Indian cricket. I thought this is the right time,” he said.
Shukla’s resignation just a day ahead of the emergency working committee meeting in Chennai is bound to put more pressure on under-fire Srinivasan to quit from the president’s post.
“I was given the task of IPL chairmanship which I tried to perform to the best of my abilities. The tournament was organized well despite all the controversies. The stadiums were jam-packed which proved that IPL was still popular,” Shukla said.
He said that he never hankered for any position and was only discharging the responsibilities given to him.
“I have never hankered for any position in the BCCI. I will serve cricket in whatever role I am given,” he said.
Srinivasan sets three demands
The beleaguered BCCI president N Srinivasan will face the toughest test in his administrative career in Sunday’s emergent working committee meeting where members are likely to push for his ouster in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal that has rocked Indian cricket.
While it is all but certain that Srinivasan will have to step down from the president’s post paying heed to the popular demand from the affiliated units, it is learnt that the Tamil Nadu strongman wants three of his demands to be met before he quits.
Srinivasan’s three demands are that he should be reinstated as president if he comes out clean after the probe, that he should represent India in ICC meetings and that secretary Sanjay Jagdale and Treasurer Ajay Shirke should not be in the new panel as they had ditched him.
The BCCI members, it is learnt, are not in favour of ignoring Jagdale and Shirke in the new panel and are unlikely to accept that demand.
Top Board members are working on a strategy to force Srinivasan to step down, at least till investigations against his son-in-law and CSK Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan were completed. - PTI
