The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday questioned whether Sourav Ganguly was being denied a second term as BCCI President as BJP failed to induct him into the party. The allegation came after BCCI VP Rajeev Shukla confirmed that Roger Binny would replace Sourav Ganguly as the BCCI President.
"Another example of political vendetta. Son of Amit Shah can be retained as secretary of BCCI. But Sourav Ganguly can't be. Is it because he is from the state of Mamata Banerjee or he didn't join BJP?" tweeted TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dr Santanu Sen.
Earlier in the day, Rajeev Shukla said Roger Binny had filed nomination for the BCCI President, Jay Shah filed for secretary and Ashish Shelar for the post of treasurer.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused the BJP of "trying to humiliate" the former Indian skipper, PTI reported.
"The BJP had tried to spread a message among people ahead of last year's Assembly elections that Ganguly, who is immensely popular in the state, would join the party," PTI quoted Ghosh as saying.
"We are not commenting directly on this matter. But since the BJP floated such propaganda during and after the polls, it will surely be the responsibility of the BJP to respond to such speculations (that politics is behind Ganguly not getting a second term as BCCI chief). It seems the BJP is trying to humiliate Sourav," he further said.
BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh called the allegations "baseless".
"We don't know when the BJP tried to induct Sourav Ganguly into the party. Sourav Ganguly is a cricketing legend. Some people are now shedding crocodile tears about the changes in BCCI. Did they have any role when he took over as BCCI president? The TMC should stop politicising every issue," Ghosh told PTI.
According to a BCCI source, Ganguly was keen to continue as BCCI President but he was told that there is no precedence of giving a second term to the Board president, PTI reported.
Ganguly was offered IPL chairmanship but he declined the offer saying he cannot accept becoming head of a sub-committee in BCCI after heading the same institution.
(With PTI inputs)