The Board of Control for Cricket in India scoffed at suggestions that the sensational leak of Greg Chappell's e-mail was because of Board politics, saying the entire issue was blown out of proportion due to its elections.
Board president Ranbir Singh Mahendra said it is wrong to associate the Chappell-Ganguly saga with Board politics though he admitted it was a "delicate issue, which was a cause of concern to sports lovers everywhere".
"This needed to be settled with matches against Sri Lnaka, South Africa and Pakistan coming up. It was necessary to solve the dispute. It is not a question of who won or who lost," he said.
"This was necessary in the interest of cricket in the country; it had nothing to do with the politics of BCCI. All that was done was meant to bring about a resolution to the controversy... the whole issue is being made much of only because of the elections," Mahendra said in an interview published in the latest issue of Tehelka, a weekly newspaper.
Mahendra also took a potshot at his critics, who have accused him of being Jagmohan Dalmiya's puppet.
"My opponents are raising the Dalmiya issue only because of the elections, only to malign me. What was [Raj Singh] Dungarpur doing when he was in the BCCI. What was [I S] Bindra doing when he was the president. Why did they not feel the same way about Dalmiya then? Now they are saying all this but have the same people spoken about issues related to cricket till now."
The BCCI chief also said no compromise had been reached between the two factions before the AGM was adjourned and also disputed the claim that he did not have the required numbers.
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