Rajat Sharma resigns as DDCA president; CEO and CAC also put in papers

New Delhi: Senior journalist Rajat Sharma on Saturday resigned from the post of president of Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA), citing his inability to continue amidst "various pulls and pressures" within the organisation. Sharma's nearly 20-month tenure was a tumultuous one with his public differences with general secretary Vinod Tihara, who enjoys a fair amount of support base in the organisation. "The cricket administration here is full of pulls and pressures all the time. I feel that vested interests are always actively working against the interest of cricket," Sharma said in a statement.

"It seems that it may not be possible to carry on in DDCA with my principles of integrity, honesty and transparency, which I am not willing to compromise at any cost," he added. Within hours of Sharma's resignation, CEO Ravi Chopra also put in his papers. The two-member Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) comprising Sunil Valson and Yashpal Sharma also tendered resignation. It will be interesting to see whether the Atul Wasan-led selection committee and coach KP Bhaskar will continue for the Ranji Trophy team or not.

Sharma had joined cricket administration after receiving active backing from former finance minister late Arun Jaitley. Many DDCA insiders believe that Sharma lost ground once Jaitley was no more as the late former finance minister was the binding force for all the different factions. "In my endeavour, though I faced many roadblocks, opposition and oppression, just to keep me from discharging my duties in fair and transparent," Sharma said.

"That's why I have decided to call it a day and hereby tender my resignation to the Apex Council from the post of President, DDCA with immediate effect," he added. With Sharma's resignation, Tihara's suspension is expected to be revoked. That will pave the way for him to become DDCA's representative at the December 1 BCCI AGM in Mumbai. "It is a good decision by Rajat ji to tender his resignation. Yesterday, eight of the directors had signed in favour of withdrawing all powers from the president," Tihara told PTI.

The signed resolution is in possession of PTI. "I am not interested to be the president. In any case as the general secretary, I will have a lot of work," Tihara said, indicating that he will certainly be the BCCI pointsman in the DDCA. "We will now have to call an emergent meeting to accept Rajat Ji's resignation which won't be a problem. Next, we need to fix the date of the general body meeting to elect a new president."

Tihara won the DDCA elections contesting for the Sharma group, but fell foul with the president within the first months on various cricket and administrative related issues. It included allegations of trying to control recruitment without following protocol and not following due diligence. Tihara was then suspended by the executive committee on disciplinary grounds which he subsequently challenged in the court of law.