Srinivasan should have stepped aside: Ehsan Mani

Former ICC president Ehsan Mani today slammed under-fire BCCI president N Srinivasan, saying there is a lot of "conflict of interest" involved and he should have "stepped aside" under the current circumstances.
Yet again rejecting demands for his resignation, Srinivasan yesterday announced setting up of a three-member commission to look into the allegations against his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Team Principal, Gurunath Meiyappan who has been arrested on charges of betting.
Mani was not convinced by this.
"In a tournament like this where so much money is involved, so much betting is going on, this is inevitable. What is surprising is BCCI's own reaction to this. Under the circumstance the president should have stepped aside, even if temporarily," Mani said.

Asserting that he has done nothing wrong and that there was no revolt against him in BCCI, Srinivasan made it clear that he cannot be "railroaded, pushed and threatened to quit".
With Srinivasan continuing to hold the top job, Mani said the outcome of the commission is bound to be influenced.

"It appears that the president will have some influence regardless of what the outcome of the investigation is and no matter how independent the commission is.
"There is a lot of conflict of interest involved between his involvement with CSK and India Cements (that owns the team). The process has to be transparent," Mani said.

The just-concluded Indian Premier League was rocked by the spot-fixing scandal which came to light after the arrest of Rajasthan Royals cricketers S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan.