Dalmiya re-elected CAB president

Jagmohan Dalmiya on Friday retained his position as president of the Cricket Association of Bengal at its 78th Annual General Meeting in Kolkata that also marked Sourav Ganguly's debut as cricket administrator.

Apart from his post, Dalmiya also retained his panel of two joint-secretaries and treasurer.

Ganguly's presence was the highlight of this year's CAB AGM, which has been a widely watched event since 2006 when Dalmiya was locked in an intense fight with then police commissioner Prasun Makherjee, who had the backing of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Asked about his faction's victory at the AGM, Dalmiya said it was not a match at all.

He also welcomed Ganguly's entry into the administration of the game.

"As I have been saying, Sourav is always welcome. Not only Ganguly, more and more cricketers should come forward to help the sport grow in the state," Dalmiya said.

"I have personally invited Ganguly to sit with me and discuss various plans to take Bengal cricket foward.

"Not only Ganguly, I also invited formerv players, Russi Jeejeebhoy, Raja Venkat and Snehashish Ganguly to contribute with their knowlege towards the development of Bengal cricket," he added.

Ganguly's emergence as a cricket administrator was termed "healthy and successful" by Minister of State for Tourism Sultan Ahmed, who is also the president of Mohammedan Sporting club, which the former India captain represented in the AGM.

"He (Ganguly) has given very good advice to CAB in the AGM. In a healthy way we will go forward together; we want Bengal cricket to go forward. Our boys are not getting chances at the senior level which is a point of concern. We have discussed all this and it was very successful," Ahmed told reporters after the meeting.

"He (Ganguly) said there are many veteran cricketers who have not been given chance," he said.

Ahmed said Ganguly also highlighted the removal of former coach Utpal Chatterjee, who was instrumental in Bengal's re-entry into Elite Group last season.

"The CAB has decided to send Chatterjee a letter of thanks for his effort last season. Ganguly has given very good ideas regarding cricket which are really appreciated," he said.

"Ganguly has given his advice on coaching as well as the running of the administration. His entry will definitely benefit Bengal cricket. About giving additional responsibility to Ganguly, Dalmiya has requested the former cricketer to sit with him to discuss future role for him," he added.

Visibly satisfied with his participation in the AGM, Ganguly, who arrived in his BMW sporting a striped shirt and cream suit said, "It was a new role for me. I am happy and looking forward to it."

Asked what points did he highlight at the AGM, the left-hander said, "I have made the points what I had to on the floor. There is nothing to discuss about that here."

While the president, the two joint-secretaries (Arun Mitra and Biswarup Dey) and treasurer (Subir Ganguly) were elected unopposed, five others contested for the four vice-president slots.

Sitting vice-presidents Shibkumar Kalyani, Samar Kar, Timir Ghosh and Shibaji Dutta retained their posts.

While Dutta got 100, Kalyani 96, Ghosh 92 and Kar 94 votes, Abhijit could only garner 24 votes.