The BCCI signed a deal with a PR agency after it was cleared by the then board president Anurag Thakur and on the advise of CEO Rahul Johri in May 2016.
Some of the top officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India are allegedly using the services of a PR firm, whose defined job is to promote the cricket body, to leak confidential information just ahead of a court hearing to malign certain board members.
The board has been paying a seven-figure fee to hire the services of this PR firm and there are many unanswered questions surrounding its role and fulfilment of its obligations.
The BCCI signed a deal with a PR agency after it was cleared by the then board president Anurag Thakur and on the advise of CEO Rahul Johri in May 2016.
Even though Thakur was unceremoniously removed by Supreme Court later, the seven-figure amount is being paid every month to the PR Firm since August 22, 2016.
DNA has a copy of the signed contract, which has certain controversial break-up of services to be provided by the firm. And one such service is called “crisis projects”. The PR firm has quoted a sum of Rs 25,000 per hour to manage any crisis in the Non Specified Centres (NSC), which are places cities where there is no office of BCCI.
Going by BCCI insiders, this “crisis project” is nothing but a tool now in the hands of current BCCI top officials (read CEO & COA) to project stories to suit their interests.
That is why many BCCI office-bearers are now wondering, “How stories which paint certain board members and office-bearers in bad light keep appearing in media before every date of hearing in the Supreme Cout?”
A BCCI office-bearer, on the condition of anonymity, told DNA that while hiring the PR agency, it was made mandatory that a monthly report is submitted regarding the work done by the firm. However, till date no such report has been brought before board members.
The latest payment figures released by BCCI show that lump sum payments in a seven-figure amount is regularly being paid to this PR firm, rather then under any heads.
Tariff card
As per the tariff card for NSC, an amount of Rs 3 lakh is to be charged by this PR firm for a “media site” visit. Further, Rs 30,000 is to be paid for “video news release” even though within BCCI the “content of the video is being produced by others”.
This despite the fact that BCCI has its own strong media communication department where half-a-dozen or more professionals (including social media) have been employed for years. Insiders have claimed that “press releases are mostly drafted by BCCI officials themselves and the PR company’s job is to just distributing the release and then raise the invoice”.
Another service for which Rs 3 lakh can be charged by the PR firm is for “workshops conducted for media”. Being the richest cricket body in the world, BCCI is to pay PR firm an amount of Rs 2 lakh for conducting routine press conferences or a similar amount for conducting “training sessions for BCCI spokesperson”.
LaMo brainwave
The PR firm was first hired for BCCI by Lalit Modi to promote the newly-launched Indian Premier League (IPL) and the initial contract lasted only few months. Thakur hired the same firm again in 2016 apparently to promote the board and create which will help them counter recommendations of Justice Lodha panel.
The impression that Thakur is said to have given his colleagues was that this PR firm has only been hired for three months and that also to create a positive atmosphere amidst the gloomy “spot-fixing” trial.
But even after Thakur’s removal on Jan. 2, 2017, the Committee of Administrators (COA) has extended it for one more year in an opaque manner.
DNA has in possession the minutes of the recent meeting on January 13, 2018 meeting where board treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry raised the issue of continuing with this PR agency “which has failed in its objective of turning around the image of BCCI in public”.
“The reason that I had raised the point was because I had not come across positive stories in the media regarding the BCCI and I had been told earlier that the purpose of their appointment was to ensure that the positives of the BCCI would be covered in the media through their efforts,” Chaudhry has been quoted as saying in the minutes of the meeting.
To which CEO Johri addressed Rai and said that “this has already been decided yesterday (Jan. 13) to which Rai nodded his agreement”.
What was decided and discussed has not been shared with any of the BCCI officials during the course of the meeting. However, one thing is for sure that money is being repeatedly paid to this agency in the name of “managing media”.
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