Rajiv Shukla, Sharad Pawar frontrunners to succeed Dalmiya

KOLKATA: The succession war in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) gathered steam on Monday even as top officials and a host of past and current administrators, cutting across regional divides, dashed to the city to pay homage to Jagmohan Dalmiya, who passed away on Sunday.

Three former BCCI presidents — Sharad Pawar, Shashank Manohar and N Srinivasan — as well as current secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla, were all in attendance at Eden Gardens to mourn the man who transformed Indian cricket.

The mood and the occasion was hardly conducive for political parleys, but notes were freely exchanged along with pleasantries as BCCI mandarins tested the water in the run-up to the Special General Meeting (SGM) that must be convened to elect a new president.

The BCCI must announce the SGM date within the next 15 days, giving three weeks' notice. Indications are that the BCCI will wait for the Supreme Court's directive on Srinivasan's status before calling the SGM. The SGM and the AGM could be held on the same day and in the same order to allow the new president to chair the annual meeting that was put off last month.

In the given scenario, there is no tearing hurry to dive headlong into vote-bank politics, but it is never too early for posturing in a faction-riddled body where loyalties are known to change at the drop of a hat.

Early indications are that Shukla could emerge as an acceptable candidate to succeed Dalmiya. In spite of having presided over the IPL-6 mess in 2013 as the chairman of the T20 league and his Congress background, Shukla could find backing from the Srinivasan camp which has no suitable candidate to field for BCCI's top post.

Shukla, though, is unlikely to be a consensus candidate, especially with former president Pawar also not averse to the idea of heading the BCCI again. But Pawar, too, will need outside support to mount a serious challenge.

The key to electoral success for any candidate hinges on capturing a lion's share of the fragmented 'BJP votes' in BCCI. Thakur, who currently calls the shots in BCCI as the secretary, is one person who can garner all the BJP votes (8) should he choose to throw his hat into the ring. The young BJP functionary was keen to contest for the BCCI president's post at the March AGM, but had to settle for his present position when the numbers didn't add up.

Much will also depend on who succeeds Dalmiya at CAB and the National Cricket Club (NCC) — two key units in East Zone whose turn it is to elect a president. Like BCCI, CAB too must summon an SGM to find Dalmiya's successor, while little is known about the rules and regulations that govern the 'opaque' NCC.

Sourav Ganguly, who is a joint secretary of the CAB, is the most likely candidate to succeed Dalmiya, but he will require the backing of the ruling Trinamool Congress party in the state to clinch the issue. Sourav, who has taken to cricket administration like a duck to water, will have to play his cards wisely in order to carry forward Dalmiya's legacy in his parent association.

As they say, there is never a dull moment in Indian cricket — both on and off the pitch.