Srinivasan re-elected BCCI president

Defying intense criticism, N Srinivasan was elected unopposed as BCCI President for a third year during the Board’s AGM here on Sunday even though he will not take charge till further orders from the Supreme Court.

Mr. Srinivasan was the lone Presidential candidate put forward by the South Zone, from where he got the proposer and the seconder.

But he can resume his duties only after the Supreme Court gives its final verdict on the case filed against his candidature by the Cricket Association of Bihar secretary Aditya Verma.

Mr. Srinivasan’s election was on expected lines despite the fact that he is facing intense criticism on the issue of propriety after his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was charge-sheeted in the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal.

Mr. Srinivasan’s company India Cements owns Chennai Super Kings.

During the first half of the AGM, other top office-bearers were also elected unopposed.

After Sudhir Dabir, vice President from the central zone and his west zone colleague Niranjan Shah were removed from their positions, Ravi Savant (west) and Rajiv Shukla (central) were brought in.

Another political heavyweight, Arun Jaitley, relinquished the vice-President’s position due to his political commitments and was replaced by his Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) colleague Sneh Bansal.

While Mr. Dabir is considered close to former BCCI chief and Mr. Srinivasan’s adversary Shashank Manohar, Mr. Shah is perceived to be a confidante of another former Board head Sharad Pawar, someone who harboured the ambition to upset Mr. Srinivasan’s applecart.

Haryana Cricket Association chief Anirudh Chaudhary was elected as Treasurer, a post which was to become vacant after Savant was formally made vice-president.

Earlier, a defiant N Srinivasan, who braved scathing criticism on issues of propriety, arrived to attend the Board’s annual general meeting here on Sunday.

The Tamil Nadu strongman, who is vying for his third term as the President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, was accompanied by his loyalists when he arrived at the hotel where the meeting took place.

Mr. Srinivasan, who was forced to step aside in the wake of the IPL spot-fixing scandal, avoided speaking to the waiting media-persons and walked into the hotel lobby.

Mr. Srinivasan was the lone presidential candidate put forward by the South Zone, from where he got the proposed and seconded.

Despite the Supreme Court making some serious observations like how he had continued being the president despite his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan being charge-sheeted by Mumbai Police in the IPL betting scandal, Mr. Srinivasan and his confidants have gone ahead with their plan of retaining power.

The Hindu

Manmohan slams Pakistan-based terror

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday displayed a willingness to bat on the front foot on cross-border terrorism when he said, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly here, that progress in resolving the Kashmir issue would require that Pakistan prevent its territory and areas under its control from being used to facilitate terrorism aimed at India.

Striking a strong note before the world body on the eve of his much-vaunted meeting here with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Dr. Singh said that even if Pakistan-based “terrorist machinery” were “shut down,” there must be a clear understanding that Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and in this context there could “never, ever, be a compromise” on India’s territorial integrity.

Epicentre of terror

Though Dr. Singh reiterated that India was “committed sincerely” to addressing this territorial question through bilateral dialogue on the basis of the Shimla Agreement, he underscored India’s persisting concerns at “state-sponsored cross-border terrorism,” particularly owing to the fact that the “epicentre of terrorism in our region is located in our neighbourhood in Pakistan.”

Underscoring some of the wider issues relating to terrorism and the nuclear threat, Dr. Singh said that 25 years after the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, put forward a comprehensive Action Plan for a Nuclear Weapon-free and Non-violent World Order, “We must strengthen efforts against nuclear proliferation and pursue time-bound, universal, non-discriminatory, phased and verifiable nuclear disarmament,” and guard against “terrorists and non-state actors gaining access to sensitive materials and technologies.”

A dominant theme in Dr. Singh’s speech was India’s firm belief in multilateralism as the vehicle to tackle a variety of global policy challenges, from universal concerns such as growth and poverty in a post-recession world to specific strategic questions relating to recent developments in Syria, Palestine and Afghanistan.

In the context of multilateralism, Dr. Singh not only flagged India’s successful partnerships with other developing nations in Africa, for example, but also exhorted delegates to press ahead with long overdue reform of the United Nations, including the Security Council.

Dr. Singh said the U.N.’s 70th anniversary in 2015 would be the moment to ensure that “the U.N. is ready for this century by completing the much-needed reforms of the United Nations and its Security Council.”

Along with other BRICS nations, Dr. Singh’s efforts in this mission have gathered some momentum after U.S. President Barack Obama backed India’s bid to become a permanent member of the Security Council during his 2010 visit to India.

However, at the U.N. General Assembly this weekend, Dr. Singh cautioned: “Never has scepticism about the U.N.’s capacity… been higher, or the external environment less propitious for multilateralism.” The U.N. enjoyed the most success when it based its decisions on “the widest possible consent and balancing equitably the needs and responsibilities of nations at different stages… of development,” he said.

The Hindu