Krishnamurthy backsplash lifts Dalmiya

Its not what Jagmohan Dalmiya does. It8217;s how he does it. Cricket politics needs more than 22 yards of play, and nobody knows the grey a...

Its not what Jagmohan Dalmiya does. It8217;s how he does it. Cricket politics needs more than 22 yards of play, and nobody knows the grey areas better than Dalmiya. A couple of days after the ruling faction at the Board of Control for Cricket in India was in a bind with observer T. S. Krishnamurthy8217;s rulings, the smiles are back on.

Krishnamurthy cancelled the president8217;s vote other than of the association he represents and the casting vote at the 76th AGM tomorrow and the day after, it8217;s back. Krishnamurthy said Bihar and not the Jharkhand Cricket Association will vote. Well, it8217;s back to Jharkhand.

The nominations filed, Sharad Pawar still holds an edge, but it8217;s too subjective a divider, and despite the Pawar men putting up at a different hotel than the Dalmiya men in Kolkata, Ranbir Singh Mahendra is closing in.

What happened? The meeting Krishnamurthy had with Dalmiya over the weekend may have something to do with it. The latter managed to produce documents proving the existence of a third faction, led by Kirti Azad! A number of appeals had been made to Krishnamurthy and thousands of pages of appeal landed on his desk.

Krishnamurthy, the former Chief Election Commissioner, has cleared the 30 affiliates for voting. Things were sorted out a little after noon. He allowed representatives of Delhi and District Cricket Association, National Cricket Club along with Jharkhand to attend the AGM. He had earlier questioned the eligibility of these units.

The ruling group also benefited from the observer8217;s decision to allow the Jyoti Bajpai-led Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association to vote. He has already been put up for the treasurer8217;s post.

In announcing these, Krishnamurthy pointed out anomalies 8220;ambiguity in the rules8221; in the Board constitution, and suggested it be clarified in future meetings.

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Himachal Pradesh has thrown up a surprise, Rajendra Zar. Anurag Thakur has failed to find a legal buttress. During the last meeting one had replaced the other mid-way through the meeting and there were conspiracy theories floating. Dalmiya can8217;t be too happy with this development.