Dalmiya wants Jaitley's nod, Shivlal in spotlight

The BCCI top brass is waiting for the return of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a former Board Vice President, to decide on the future course of action in the wake of the Supreme Court order barring sidelined President N Srinivasan from contesting elections.
A day after the Supreme Court ruling, the focus has shifted on Jaitely who is expected to advise the BCCI on all the legal matters and and find a way to resolve the issues.
But a subtle power game has already started within the BCCI corridors with various groups devising their own strategies and Jaitely, who can influence at least eight votes because of the BJP connection, can threfore play a big role in the upcoming Annual General Meeting.

Srinivasan declined to comment on the development for the second successive day and it is learnt that the Tamil Nadu strongmen is studying the Supreme Court's order in detail.
While the incumbent President needs a proposer and seconder from the East Zone, whose turn it is to select the president, former ICC and BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya has emerged as the favourite with his years of experience along with interim president Shivlal Yadav.
"Jagmohan Dalmiya won't take a step forward until and unless he gets the nod from Arun Jaitley, who is the most powerful man in BCCI politics. Jaitley will be back from Davos (World Economic Forum) on January 25th. Post his (Jaitley) arrival, Dalmiya will have a detailed discussion with the minister before taking any decision," a senior BCCI functionary in the know of things told PTI today.

The official, who has seen Dalmiya function for years, said that though Srinivasan has a lot of respect for Dalmiya, one has to understand that he is ageing and therefore an alternate option can't be ruled out.