Patel gets lifeline in BCA

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Sanjay Patel can breathe easy.

Patel, who holds the same post in the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA), was on Friday granted a lifeline by president Samarjithsinh Gaekwad, who used his veto power to quash the managing committee's decision to force Patel to give up his position.

As was reported by dna on Friday, a section of the managing committee was of the opinion that Patel had no right to be secretary as he had stood for elections last December without completing a full term as a sub-committee member. The BCA has three sub-committees — press, umpires and tournament. Patel, however, sprang a surprise by producing before the managing committee minutes of the 2002-03 Annual General Meeting wherein he was nominated to the finance committee.

The managing committee argued that neither is the finance committee a sub-committee nor was Patel elected to the same. Gaekwad, who occupies the throne of Baroda, an erstwhile kingdom, then cited Rule 11 (l) of the constitution which states that the chairman can overrule any and every decision of the managing committee.

This obviously angered many members, including the highly influential Chirayu Amin. who is chairman and managing director of pharma giant Alembic, occupied the BCA top post for over two decades. Why, he was also IPL chairman after Lalit Modi's ouster. A source in the BCA said that a miffed Amin told Gaekwad that he was misusing the veto power.

Gaekwad, however, told dna that he only did what was right. "Sanjay Patel is an elected member. Let the general body decide his fate. The managing committee can't force him to resign," said Gaekwad, who, insiders say, has been hiring Patel's services as chartered accountant for several years now.

Patel was delighted with Gaekwad's decision. "Once I showed him the proof, the president used his veto power. These guys (members of the rival camp) can't touch me. They are jealous of me because I am BCCI secretary. What wrong have I done? Why do they want to throw me out? The general body has elected me," Patel told this paper.
Patel's rivals are obviously angered and have sought legal opinion. "We may go to court," one of them said. The saga has just begun, but it must be mentioned here that whoever goes to war with Patel will invite the wrath of a certain N Srinivasan. The BCA would do well by keeping that in mind. Or they could speak to someone in the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) which backed Lalit Modi.