Jagmohan Dalmiya wins power play, will head BCCI

Jagmohan Dalmiya, who will turn 75 in three months time, played his cards perfectly on Sunday to make sure that he will become the BCCI president for a second term when election results are announced at Monday's Annual General Meeting.

Dalmiya, who is the president of both Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) and the National Cricket Club (NCC), and thus controls two votes, gave a masterclass in the art of manipulation that stumped even old guards in the BCCI.

Having originally pitched himself as a 'neutral' candidate for the president's post, Dalmiya kept changing his position continuously to tease and torment the two rival factions headed by N Srinivasan and Sharad Pawar.

A long one-on-one parley with Srinivasan in Chennai on Saturday was followed by a round of meeting with the Pawar group on Sunday morning before filing his nomination with the 'support' of both factions.

The fact that Dalmiya will be elected unopposed gives him a bagful of bragging rights. Things, however, could have been a whole lot different had outgoing joint secretary Anurag Thakur not locked horns with Dalmiya in a shadow fight over the coveted BCCI post.

While Thakur enjoyed BJP's support, Dalmiya protected his vote bank, including his own two, zealously. Pawar, a veteran politician, was quick to read the lust for power in the eyes of the young Thakur as well as septuagenarian Dalmiya.

Realising that neither would budge an inch, Pawar quietly withdrew from the fray on Saturday night and tried hard to hammer out a compromise in order to keep both on his side.

Thakur was offered the secretary's post by the Pawar group, but it failed to satisfy BJP's young Turk, who started negotiating with the Srini camp at that stage. It is understood that BJP's senior leadership had to step in and ask Thakur to back off.

Dalmiya sensed his chance and 'defected' to the other side. Technically, though, it wouldn't count as defection as Dalmiya's candidature was backed by all six East Zone associations.

Yet, Dalmiya did switch sides at the last minute to make sure that he would win uncontested. Had he filed his papers on behalf of the Pawar group, Dalmiya may still perhaps have sailed through had Thakur fallen in line, but he clearly didn't want to risk an election. It was a smart move by the wily administrator that left Thakur licking his wounds.

If you are wondering why the Pawar group didn't pitch Thakur against Dalmiya for the president's post with BJP's help, the simple answer is that they could not find a proposer or a seconder from East Zone to back his candidature. The Pawar group was happy to claim tactical victory in this round, contending that Srini's group would find Dalmiya hard to manipulate.

Their Plan B, however, looks more promising. Having denied Srinivasan the president of his choice, the Pawar group has fielded Thakur for the post of secretary against Sanjay Patel in a straight contest. The fight for the joint secretary's post will be between Chetan Desai of Goa (Pawar group) and Amitabh Choudhary of Jharkhand (Srini group).

Pawar's group has also fielded Rajeev Shukla for the treasurer's post against Anirudh Chaudhry in a bid to 'balance' the team that is expected to lead the BCCI in the next couple of years.