Kingmaker Arun Jaitley meets with the players

With political heavyweight Sharad Pawar facing opposition even within his group after having aligned with deposed BCCI chief and ICC chairman N. Srinivasan, Manohar along with ex-board treasurer Ajay Shirke and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur met Union minister and perceived king-maker Arun Jaitley, with the former’s name being floated as the most acceptable face in an increasingly tense turf war.

With the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party controlling — or having a say — in at least eight BCCI constituent votes, party satraps Jaitley and Thakur will have a significant say in who will step into Dalmiya’s shoes at the forthcoming special general meeting of the board convened for the purpose.

Though it is up to East Zone to nominate a replacement for Dalmiya as the zone can retain presidency till 2017, Srinivasan is believed to have used his rapport with the Odisha CA to build bridges with Pawar after the two fell out in 2010, Since then though, the anti-Srinivasan group has virtually firmed up its decision to check-mate the emerging Pawar-Srinivasan bloc.

Accordingly, Manohar, former BCCI treasurer Shirke — who resigned after disagreeing with Srinivasan on tackling the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal — and Thakur called on Jaitley earlier this week to discussed the way forward to break the leadership stalemate.

Manohar and Shirke landed here on Thursday evening to not only meet Jaitley but also hold discussions with other key BCCI officials. PTI thereafter quoted an unnamed BCCI source as saying, “Yes, there was a meeting that took place at Jaitley’s residence. Manohar and Shirke spoke at length about the current situation of BCCI with Jaitley. Thakur was also present.”

Though Manohar was initially reluctant to step in after being offered the post thanks to his experience in the job and clean image, the opposition to Srinivasan was clearly strong enough to tip the scales for the Vidarbha-based lawyer. “Manohar has always maintained that he has played his innings as the BCCI top boss. He does not wish to come back again but is ready to help the BCCI restore its faith among stakeholders. He has made it clear that he is not at all in favour of a Pawar-Srinivasan alliance,” the source also told the wire agency.

That appears to now have changed, leaving the other possible candidates — including IPL: chairman Rajeev Shukla of the Congress Party — out in the cold. It also closes the door on an East Zone nominee after the region initially said it wanted one of its own — particularly current BCCI joint secretary Amitabh Chaudhary of Jharkhand — as its candidate for the BCCI presidency.