Sourav Ganguly on Friday raised a banner of revolt against long-time mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya, accusing the former Board of Control for Cricket chief of "playing" with his career.
The former India captain, who lost his place in the team after a spat with coach Greg Chappell, chose the upcoming elections for presidentship of the Cricket Association of Bengal to hit out at Dalmiya, facing a challenge for the post from Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherkjee.
Currently playing county cricket in England, Ganguly, who is desperately seeking a comeback into the national team, sent an e-mail to his brother Snehashish supporting Mukherjee's candidature. The e-mail was released by Mukherjee at a press conference in Kolkata.
"People who leak e-mails and sacrifice players' careers should be heavily punished. There are people in the CAB who are playing with players' careers to suit them. They should not be allowed to go scot-free as it takes years of hard work to reach a certain level in sports," Ganguly said in the e-mail.
Complaining of unethical practices in the CAB, Ganguly also expressed satisfaction at the stand taken by West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, who has openly said that incumbent Dalmiya should stay away from the CAB presidential race.
"I am happy that the Chief Minister and people concerned are addressing the issues and working towards the right path," he wrote.
Ganguly's e-mail, which also accused Dalmiya of leaking Chappell's controversial e-mail to the Board in September last year, comes as a major boost to the dissident faction ahead of the July 30 polls.
Chappell's e-mail, which contained damning criticism of Ganguly, created a furor after its contents appeared in a Bengali daily in the midst of the BCCI AGM.
The local hero's missive is the latest twist in the riveting drama for control of the CAB, where Dalmiya is facing a determined challenge from dissidents being backed by Bhattacharjee and some former Ranji Trophy cricketers from Bengal.
The former Indian captain's message in support of the police chief comes a day after West Bengal Sports minister Subhas Chakraborty --- known to be soft on Dalmiya admitted his failure to dissuade the veteran cricket administrator from contesting the elections.
Chakraborty's statement had been interpreted as a confirmation that Dalmiya is prepared to fight it out in the polls.
Chakraborty, who had been directed by the chief minister to convey his stand on the CAB polls to Dalmiya, also said that his attempts for a compromise between the two factions had not borne fruit.
The police commissioner had filed his nomination on Thursday, while his close lieutenant and former Bengal cricketer Raja Venkat threw his hat in the ring for one of the two joint secretaries' posts during the day, which also saw Dalmiya filing his nomination for the top post.