BCCI top brass hold meetings in Mumbai

The BCCI top brass today held a series of meetings to draw up a strategy for Monday's crucial Governing Council meeting amid intense speculation that beleaguered IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is being persuaded to step down voluntarily from the high-flying post.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar was closeted with secretary N Srinivasan, IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah and chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty to discuss the raging IPL controversy.
     
Union Minister and BCCI heavyweight Sharad Pawar, who is also here, is expected to meet the BCCI top brass during the day.

There was no official word as to what was being discussed at the meeting but a BCCI source indicated that it was just a "routine discussion" ahead of the Governing Council meeting.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of forming a three-member core committee to oversee the running of the league in its subsequent editions.

The BCCI has already made it clear that it would not consider Modi's plea to postpone the meeting by five days.
     
Finance and Media committee chairman Rajiv Shukla, who is also a member of the Governing Council, is expected to reach here in the afternoon and join in the deliberations.

Most of the other Council members are expected to reach here either tonight or by tomorrow morning.
     
With very little support within the Governing Council, Modi's future appears to be grim and there was a distinct possibility that he could be removed from his post as IPL chairman and commissioner.