Jyoti Basu refuses to meet Jagmohan Dalmiya

Kolkata, Jun 21 (UNI) The upcoming Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) election took a new turn as CAB president Jagmohan Dalmiya looked absolutely helpless when former West Bengal Chief Minister JyotiBasu refused to meet him last night.

Last evening, when the dissident group was blaming the Dalmiya regime for Sourav Ganguly's ouster from the Indian side, Dalmiya had rushed to Mr Basu's house to seek his advice and blessing only to return disheartened from his doorsteps.

Mr Basu's personal secretary Joy Krishna Ghosh told UNI, ''Yes Dalmiya came to meet Mr Basu, but he could not meet Mr Dalmiya because of personal reasons. '' This came at a time when Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had come out in the open asking Dalmiya not to fight the election and the Ganguly family seemed to be rooting for Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee firmly.

However, the sudden sabbatical of Mr Basu from the scene after having questioned the Commissioner's capability of holding two high profile jobs since his responsibility as Police chief Commissioner came first left a few question mark on Dalmiya's support base.

Meanwhile, Snehasish Ganguly, Sourav's elder brother, also tipped as Joint Secretary of the CAB, held the Dalmiya faction responsible for his brother's exclusion, and said the CAB needed a change.

With some six weeks left for the election, stakes seemed to go higher and the battle tougher for the incumbent president.

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