Dalmiya set to resign as CAB president

Even for people who know him well, it was a different Jagmohan Dalmiya on Tuesday.

Even for people who know him well, it was a different Jagmohan Dalmiya on Tuesday. At 6 pm, when Dalmiya called for a closed door meeting of six Cricket Association of Bengal CAB members 8212; attended by assistant secretaries Biswarup Dey, Alok Nandi, vice-presidents Asit Chatterjee and Russi Jheejheebhoi, joint secretary Saredindu Pal and treasurer SK Kalyani 8212;they expected him to take a defiant stand and stand up to all the challenges ahead of the Emergent meeting of the Working Committee of the CAB on Wednesday.

Instead, they saw him breaking down in tears, weeping8230;and finally, accepting defeat. The beleaguered cricket administrator, during the course of this meeting, confirmed he would be resigning tomorrow as CAB president but will not be attending the meeting 8212; thus putting a cap on the tussle between the BCCI and the CAB over Dalmiya8217;s expulsion and nullifying the main agenda of tomorrow8217;s CAB meeting.

The CAB8217;s Working Committee was to originally meet to discuss BCCI8217;s official intimation of Dalmiya8217;s expulsion The members at the BCCI8217;s Special General Meeting on December 16 at Jaipur expelled Dalmiya for life from the Board and the CAB, on a 29-2 verdict.

Apart from pressure from the media and the board, he claimed his decision was also affected by threats to CAB from the Board 8212; that they would be penalised for not following orders to expel Dalmiya. He reportedly, also felt that those close to him had backstabbed him and this was another reason for his decision. He, however, maintained he would carry on his legal fight against the Pilcom charges against him.

In view of this latest development, the Working Committee is largely expected to discuss the names of prospective candidates for the president8217;s posts but Prasun Mukerjee, who earlier contested and lost narrowly to Dalmiya earlier this year, remains the leading contender.