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Kamal Nath says BCCI president should resign

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ANI New Delhi

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday said the Board of Cricket Control in India President N.Srinivasan has lost all his credibility and should resign.

Demanding his resignation, Nath further said, "He allied with his family and executed match-fixing. Whatever has happened is sad and people have lost all trust from the game they love. The government is working on the entire issue to bring in stringent laws to curb dishonesty."

Meanwhile, a defiant N. Srinivasan said that he had done nothing wrong with regard to the Indian Premier League, and categorically refused to resign from his position.

Srinivasan told the media outside Mumbai Airport that: " I have done nothing wrong. I have no intention to resign. I cannot be bulldozed. This is all a political game and conspiracy. The BCCI will follow strictly all of its rules. The law will take its course."

 

Srinivasan is here to meet his arrested son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan at around 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.

Earlier today, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader and former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament D. Raja expressed concern as a citizen of India over spot fixing episode in the ongoing sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Speaking exclusively to ANI TV, Raja called on the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to speak out and clarify what it was doing to end such scams and what steps it would be taking to punish the guilty as per the laws of the land.

"Actually, it is for the people of the BCCI to speak out and make it clear, and clarify what is happening in the IPL. As a citizen of this country, my concern is; I would like to say is; that they (BCCI) is making money out of cricket," said Raja.

"It (the IPL) is a big gamble, and they (BCCI) are not accountable to finance ministry or, the sports ministry. The lawmakers should make sure what their role in all this is. The time has come for government to take a serious account and initiate strict action. Everything has become a fraud in the name of sports," he added.

Raja also said that he was personally not in favour of politicians interfering in the activities of sports federation.

"It is a fact they are in the same board, and they will have to explain what their position is," he said.

Commenting on the statement made by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesman D.P Tripathi regarding the call for BCCI president N. Srinivasan's resignation on moral grounds, Raja said: "He has to explain what his and his party's view is."

"If political parties are genuinely concerned about what is happening today, then they should come up with some action. I do not know whether Srinivasan should step down or not. It is for the BCCI to decide," he added.

Raja's views on the IPL scam came even as Srinivasan said late Friday night that he will not resign from his post in the wake of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan being arrested by the crime branch of the Mumbai police for his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) betting-spot fixing scandal.

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First Published: May 25 2013 | 2:34 PM IST

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