New Delhi: Union home minister Amit Shah denied any involvement in the election of the next BCCI chief and declined that a deal was made with the new president-elect, former India captain Sourav Ganguly.
"I did not decide who will be BCCI president. BCCI has its own election process for it," Amit Shah told a news channel. When Amit Shah was asked about his meeting with Ganguly, the home minister said, “There is no harm in Sourav Ganguly meeting me. He can come see me. I have been associated with cricket for years.”
There have been rumours that Shah had met Ganguly on Saturday and offered the BCCI president’s post in return for him contesting the West Bengal assembly election in 2021.
Ganguly had emerged as the consensus candidate for the top BCCI post on Sunday night in a dramatic turn of events after hectic parleys, thanks to the intervention of the BJP. Amit Shah's son Jay Shah will be the new secretary while Arun Dhumal will be the new treasurer. Dhumal is the younger brother of MoS Finance and former BCCI president Anurag Thakur.
Shah rejected that any “deal” was made with Ganguly. “There has been no such deal or talks with him. It is just bad-mouthing against Sourav Ganguly," he said.
But he added: "If he does, it’s good. But there has been no such deal with him about it."
"I tell every citizen of this country that the BJP is a good party to join. It's my job," Amit Shah said.
The rumours of Ganguly joining the BJP stem from his iconic status in Bengal, which has meant he has always been eyed by political outfits, and the saffron party looking to dislodge the Mamata Banerjee government after making huge gains in the Lok Sabha election.
According to reports, the BJP had also approached Ganguly before the 2016 assembly election.
“We don't need a face for the BJP in Bengal. We won 18 seats in Bengal without a face and lost few seats here and there.” Shah added that it’s not that that the party don’t want a face, but BJP can win the election without one.
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