RCA to contest BCCI suspension in court soon

NEW DELHI: The full-blown war between the Indian cricket board and suspended state body Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) escalated on Thursday with its deputy president Mehmood Abdi alleging that former board president N Srinivasan was still calling the shots within BCCI and that "the spate of vengeance, hate and prejudicial grudge carried by the man" is reflected in the suspension of RCA.

Abdi said RCA will "move a court of appropriate jurisdiction within this week against its suspension by BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), which was illegal and unauthorised" . Earlier in the week, former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who was banned by the Indian cricket board last year, was declared president of RCA, but in an act of swift retaliation, the BCCI decided to suspend the state association.

BCCI had said on Wednesday that it had suspended RCA as per rules, but Abdi said it seems "BCCI has different rules for different individuals as the democratically-elected RCA committee is suspended simply to stall the return of one Lalit Modi".

"The action of BCCI speaks volumes about its sheer arrogance and utter disregard for the law of the land and public sentiment, as it has demonstrated with the ban on the RCA in the most unfair and undemocratic manner…It is completely bewildering that a democratically and duly-elected body is destabilised within minutes of it being elected at the whim of the BCCI," Abdi added.

In a strongly-worded statement , Abdi said while RCA is a constituent member of the BCCI, it is no way subservient to it. "Especially since it is governed by the (Rajasthan) Sports Act under which Lalit Modi has not earned any disqualification.