Jyotiraditya Scindia today became the first BCCI office-bearer to openly call for President N Srinivasan's resignation in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal and said that the Board should take entire responsibility for the fiasco.
While Scindia wanted Srinivasan to step down till the case of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan is decided, Union Minister and senior Board functionary Farooq Abdullah backed the beleaguered president, saying there was no reason for him to quit.
Even as the scandal raged on, the media was barred from asking questions on the issue at the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's pre-departure press conference in Mumbai. Dhoni kept mum to a few questions related to spot-fixing in the IPL.
Two days after Srinivasan claimed that he had the full support of the Board members, Scindia raised the first voice of dissent, saying that propriety demanded that he should step down.
"From my point of view, not for a second am I assuming that anybody is guilty. Having said that, in the interest of propriety and in interest of the game at this point of time when there is a question mark surrounding an individual, surrounding the team (CSK) and surrounding the manager of that team who happens to be a family member, I believe in all sense of the word propriety that Mr Srinivasan must step aside," Scindia told PTI.
"If you consider the conflict of interest he is in as one of his family members is alleged of wrongdoing, then propriety demands that he should step aside. I would have done the same had I been in his place. Willy-nilly we are responsible for the wrongdoing of our family members to some extent. Example has to be set from the top," he said.
Scindia, who is Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association President and Chairman of BCCI's Finance Committee, said Srinivasan can be re-instated if Gurunath is absolved of the charges of betting in the IPL after investigation.
