04 October,2013 12:20 AM IST | | Harit N Joshi
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) honorary secretary Sanjay Patel reacted sharply to former BCCI president Shashank Manohar's scathing attack on current chief N Srinivasan before touching upon Manohar's affidavit in the Bombay High Court to clear his name from the cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate against the BCCI.
BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel outside the Indian cricket board's headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.u00a0Pic/ Sameer Markande
According to ED, USD 50 million were transferred to a bank account in South Africa during the 2011 Indian Premier League. Manohar reportedly blamed Srinivasan, who was the Board's secretary then, for the whole mess.
Patel also tried to put an end to the speculation regarding the itinerary of the much-awaited South Africa tour. In an impromptu media interaction outside the BCCI headquarters yesterday, Patel touched upon each issue briefly. Excerpts:
On the uncertainty surrounding the SA tourâ¦
Certain things have to be put in perspective. The BCCI in normal circumstances would have done anything (for the tour to go on), but the protocol of finalising any series is a joint declaration. And that declaration was originally done without the BCCI's approval. So we are waiting. There are a number of countries ready to play with India. There's no problem at all.
On Shashank Manohar's affidavit in Bombay HCâ¦
There was no question of the affidavit (filed by Manohar in the Bombay High Court) being discussed. But (what was discussed) was the case fought by Shashank Manohar in his individual (capacity) leaving aside the other office-bearers and the employees of BCCI. Members were not happy with what happened. BCCI rules and regulations and the memorandum are very clear. The Board is functioning under the superintendence (authority) of the president. The entire Board is united on the issue. That is why the issue was discussed at the AGM and the members have shown their displeasure.
Shashank Manohar
On Manohar's remarks against Srinivasanâ¦
Before making any remarks about their colleagues in the Board, any ex-BCCI official should have considered that BCCI is running with all the office-bearers' help. My u00a0personal view is that it is always the collective responsibility of office-bearers. One cannot absolve himself by leaving others aside. We will wait for the official version if available from Shashank Manohar. But Manohar is an ex-president, we can easily talk to him. It's not that we are not on talking terms. He's a good friend of mine.
On CCI being allotted international matchesâ¦
CCI is always there to support (BCCI) and when it comes to giving them a match, it won't be out of turn. We (BCCI)u00a0considered that some matches will be allocated to CCI, but Mumbai Cricket Association's rotation and everything else remains the same. u00a0
