Jaipur: Controversial former Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi was on Saturday unceremoniously ousted from the president’s post of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) with a rebel group, led by local BJP leader Amin Pathan, taking over the reins.
On a day of hectic developments, Pathan was elected as the Acting President by the majority of the members in an extraordinary general body meeting, bringing a dramatic end to Modi’s tenure almost five months after he was elected to the top post.
It is learnt that 23 out of the 33 district cricket associations of RCA supported the move to remove Modi, who has been banned for life by the BCCI but came back as the chief of state association with an overwhelming majority in May this year.
With BCCI imposing a ban on RCA following Modi’s election as its president, there was an impasse on the future of state’s cricketers on their participation in the BCCI affiliated tournaments. Modi’s sudden ouster also paves the way for RCA’s smooth return into the BCCI fold. It will also ensure regular annual grants for the body as well as Sawai Man Singh Stadium getting its quota of IPL and international matches.
In view of the stalemate, Rajasthan High Court, in a recent judgement, formed an ad-hoc body of three separate selection committees to choose the various state teams for BCCI tournaments.
However, with RCA still remaining banned by the BCCI which hampered its smooth functioning, there was an unrest among members with a lot people supporting Pathan, a BJP leader from Kota, who is also the district association president from the region.
It is also learnt from sources that Pathan had the backing of the Vasundhara Raje Scindia-led state government which wanted the RCA to function smoothly with the cooperation of the BCCI.
