Union Home Minister Amit Shah denies BJP's involvement in Sourav Ganguly’s selection as the BCCI president
Rumours have been doing the rounds that Shah had met Ganguly on Saturday.
Sourav Ganguly, the former Indian captain, is all set to appointed as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It will be after 65 years that a retired skipper of the cricket team will be at the helm. The 47-year-old had emerged as the consensus candidate for the position on Sunday night after a five-hour long meeting at the Trident in Mumbai.
It was attended by former BCCI president N Srinivasan and more 100 other guests from various cricket associations. It was only after Union minister Anurag Thakur stepped in that Ganguly’s name came to the fore. The next annual general meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, October 23 and Ganguly’s name is likely to be announced there.
In the meantime, rumours have been doing the rounds that Amit Shah, the union home minister, had met Ganguly on Saturday. There he offered the BCCI president’s post to Ganguly in return for him contesting the West Bengal assembly election in 2021.
There is no harm in Sourav Ganguly meeting me: Amit Shah
However, Shah has completely denied his involvement in the election process. Rather, he said that it’s up to the world’s richest cricket board to decide on the proper candidate. “I did not decide who will be BCCI president. BCCI has its own election process for it.
There is no harm in Sourav Ganguly meeting me. He can come see me. I have been associated with cricket for years,” Shah was quoted as saying in News 18.
“There has been no such deal or talks with him. It is just bad-mouthing against Sourav Ganguly. If he does, it’s good. But there has been no such deal with him about it. I tell every citizen of this country that the BJP is a good party to join. It’s my job,” he added.
As per reports, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had previously approached Ganguly before the 2016 assembly elections. There have also been speculations surrounding Ganguly joining the BJP. “We don’t need a face for the BJP in Bengal. We won 18 seats in Bengal without a face and lost few seats here and there,” Shah stated.
As far as positions in the BCCI is concerned, Shah’s son Jay Shah will be the new secretary even as Arun Dhumal will be the new treasurer. Dhumal is the younger brother of MoS Finance and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.
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