Jul 26, 2006, 11:07 GMT
Kolkata, July 26 (IANS) Caught in a sticky wicket, incumbent Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Jagmohan Dalmiya Wednesday said he was sad for defying Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and contest the elections to the state cricket body.
'There is a feeling of hurt in me that I could not honour the chief minister's words. When the chief minister wishes for something we must honour that,' he told IANS.
'I wanted to honour him but I am forced to contest. There is a feeling of sadness. But I had to do it to prove a point,' the ace cricket administrator said.
'When Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty came to me to work out a solution we talked of every possibility and even suggested him some alternatives. But that was not acceptable to them nor did they revert with any solution,' he said.
'The sports minister gave up and I went ahead with the decision to contest,' he said.
'I needed a platform to fight the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) wrongs. Also the colleagues who had supported me all this while and helped me scale the highest rungs of international cricket administration wanted me to continue. How could I say no to them,' he said.
Speaking on Sourav Ganguly, he said, 'There is a saying in Hindi 'jis ki lathi uski bhais' (one in power is the king) now I don't have the proverbial 'lathi' and people are leaving my side. So now relationships have strained,' he said.
'But I will say he (Sourav) is a rare talent. He is a fabulous cricketer and whatever he has done he has done it by himself. I will stand by these words forever,' he said.
'I will talk about all these a few years from now when I write about my life. You will know it, don't worry.'
Speaking on BCCI cases he said: 'They began with Rs.2.1 milion and ended now with Rs 400 million. I have never got the documents and clarifications sought by me.'
© 2006 Indo-Asian News Service
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