Protest at Eden Gardens regarding Mamata Banerjee's selection of Sourav Ganguly as CAB head

Protest in front of Eden Gardens regarding Mamata’s partial selection in favour of Sourav Ganguly

Eden Gardens saw an unusual scene on Tuesday as Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) showed their protest against the alleged partial selection for the posts of president and joint secretary of Cricket Association of Bengal ( CAB ).

Three days after Jagmohan Dalmiya’s sudden demise, the chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee declared former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly to be the next president and Dalmiya’s son Abhishek to be the next joint secretary at Nabanna.

“We reject government’s intervention in autonomous sports bodies… we condemn Chief Minister’s imposing of the president and joint-secretary in CAB,” the BBD Bagh branch of APDR was quoted saying.

General secretary of the association, Dhiraj Sengupta said: “Mamata should refrain from interfering in autonomous sports associations.”

“Previously too we had seen similar instances when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was fielding his own candidates for CAB elections. This should stop. Sourav no doubt is the automatic choice, but the manner in which it was done puts it in a bad light,” he also added terming the entire incident as ‘killing of democracy’.

Though Mamata Banerjee made the announcement single-handedly, Sourav’s quotes suggested that the decision has to be unanimous by the board members.

“We’ll have to call a meeting with all the members. I have to be thankful to all the members for this opportunity. If all the 117 members agree, then I’m ready to take up the responsibility. It will be a challenge, we have to keep working every day. We will all work together,” Sourav revealed to the press after Mamata’s controversial announcement.

“It’s not CM’s sole decision. She has spoken to everyone. I’m very happy that she wanted Abhishek (Dalmiya) in. Whatever time they want me to go, I’ll go. It’s an emotional time for him and I will support him,” he added.

Previously, he held the post of joint-secretary of CAB and after becoming the president he stands the first test player to do so for CAB.

Quote credits: PTI