(14 October 2005 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: In a surprise move, Sharad Pawar has resigned from the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) marketing committee.

The development is perceived as a big blow to the anti-Dalmiya camp since a final decision on the sale of TV telecast rights to the India-Sri Lanka series, which kicks off on 25 October, is still pending. The marketing committee, which handles TV rights and other marketing matters, is polarised between Dalmiya and Pawar supporters.

It is still unclear as to what prompted Pawar to resign. PTI has quoted a source in the Mumbai Cricket Association as stating that Pawar, who also heads the Disaster Management Committee, resigned as he could not devote time in view of the earthquake relief work. Raj Singh Dungarpur, on the other hand, claimed that the Maratha strongman had quit because the BCCI accounts were not in order.

“Mr Pawar has resigned from the BCCI’s Marketing Committee and has sent a letter to this effect. He has said in the letter that because of his busy schedule in the government’s Disaster Management Cell he would not be able to devote time to the committee’s matters,” the source told PTI.

Pawar and Dalmiya were engaged in a fierce battle to control BCCI. Though not part of BCCI's orignal Marketing Committee, Pawar was inducted into the panel at the last AGM of the board in Kolkata which was adjourned last month. Following today's development, Pawar would not be attending the committee's sitting in Mumbai on 16 October which is to be chaired by BCCI president Ranbir Singh Mahendra.

In the latest turn of events in the telecast rights saga, the Delhi High Court had allowed BCCI to open technical bids for grant of telecast and broadcast rights in India for the next four years after Zee Telefilms said it had no objection to it. The court had also asked the cricket body not to disclose the outcome. The BCCI would inform the outcome to the court on 19 October, when the matter would come up for further hearing.