N Srinivasan's men likely to meet in Bengaluru, Anurag Thakur woos East unit

New Delhi: With the battle for BCCI President's post gathering steam, hectic parleys and strategy sessions have started with former chief N Srinivasan summoning his loyalists for an "informal gathering" in Bengaluru on Thursday.

It is learnt that around 8 to 9 units will be meeting the ICC chairman to discuss the roadmap ahead of the Special General Body meeting and shortlist a candidate who would replace Jagmohan Dalmiya, who passed away last Sunday.

"Yes, I have been send feelers to be present in Bengaluru. I will be going there to know what's there in store for future," a senior state unit member and Srinivasan loyalist said.

There is a possibility that Amitabh Chaudhary, who has emerged as one of the presidential candidates from the East Zone will be in attendance along with majority of South units as well as some of the eastern units.

The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) will however not be present as the state unit officials have decided not to attend any formal or informal meeting till Dalmiya's condolence meet is over at the Eden Gardens on October 2.

Meanwhile, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has also started his back-channel talks with eastern units.

It has been learnt that Thakur has called up members of few of the eastern unit factions to check what's in their mind as he is pitching for Rajeev Shukla's name for presidency.

Interestingly, it must be recalled that Shukla and Jharkhand top boss Chaudhary fought the joint secretary's election during last AGM which the IPL chairman lost.
Shukla, on his part, was non-committal about his chances of being the next president of BCCI.

"How can I say anything on this right now? I don't want to speak on it," Shukla told reporters at the AGM of Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) in Kanpur.

"The BCCI Secretary will call a General Body meeting. This matter will be decided in that meeting. Till the time this meeting does not take place, it would not be appropriate to comment on this," Shukla added.