VADODARA: 

Partners in prime: Jagmohan Dalmiya and JY Lele

He is a rare cricket administrator, who could speak his heart out. And the latest from former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jaywant Lele is that Jagmohan Dalmiya, who is accused along with others of misappropriating funds during the 1996 World Cup, is absolutely clean. On the eve of another high profile BCCI Annual General Body Meeting (AGM), Lele regaled MiD DAY with tales from some of the most high voltage AGMs over the years. Read on:
 
1990, Kolkata

IT was one of the best meetings as far as suspense value was concerned. We were part of the Madhavrao Scindia group. Scindia was contesting for the post of president, Dalmiya for Secretary and I was contesting for Jt Secretary. It was a tight affair which we won by a one-vote margin. Also, the fact that we toppled B N Dutt in his own territory was fulfilling Strategically, it was one the most memorable meetings that I was part of.
 
1993, Gwalior

This election is a particular favourite of mine simply because we had dethroned the ruling group. I had switched loyalties and had joined the Jagmohan Dalmiya group, which was backing Inderjit Singh Bindra for the post of BCCI President. It was a battle shaping up for a fierce showdown, but in the end we came up trumps. So in that sense, this election is one of my personal favourites.
 
1998, Jaipur

Everyone knows that Maharashtra chief minister Manohar Joshi wanted to contest this election for the post of BCCI President. But the real story behind his withdrawal was actually Dalmiya.

What happened was that Dalmiya was summoned by Joshi to find out realistically what chance he had. During that meeting, Dalmiya told Joshi that he would not get enough votes - not even in double figures. He advised Joshi not to contest. Joshi, the smart statesman, respected Dalmiya's advice and decided to withdraw but with an assurance that he would continue to be BCCI vice-president.

1999, Chennai

People accused Dalmiya of siphoning off some money. This talk started from the morning. In the afternoon, Dalmiya called me and asked if he should bring his people from his office down to Chennai and prove that all the allegations were wrong. He asked them to bring along with them balance sheets of his company, Dalmiya and Sons.

His office staff arrived with all the relevant documents. He later invited all those who were suggesting that he had misappropriated funds amounting to a just few thousand rupees and told them that the annual turnover of his company was Rs 150 crore so there was no need for him to stoop so low as to indulge in fraudulent transactions which ran into a few thousand rupees.  The men who had doubted Dalmiya's integrity were convinced only after checking the balance sheets. Yes, they actually went and checked the balance sheets of his company.

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