Alleging 'step motherly' attitude by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, about 100-odd present and former cricketers under the banner of Bihar Players Association on Saturday demonstrated outside BCCI chief Jagmohan Dalmiya's residence in Kolkata demanding full membership for the state.
Headed by Mritunjay Tiwary, BPA also threatened to 'lock up' the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and sit on strike if they were not given any immediate assurance.
"For 14 years, there has been no cricket in Bihar after the full membership was gone. There is no future for Bihar cricketers, thousands of talents are nipped in the bud for lack of exposure," Tiwary said.
"If we do not find any solution, we will gather 1000 cricketers at the Cricket Centre in Mumbai and lock up the office," Tiwary said.
Displaying placards of 'we want justice for Bihar cricketers' and 'Start cricket in Bihar', they encircled Dalmiya's residence in 10 Alipore Road for about half an hour before police dispersed them.
Their only demand was to promote cricket in Bihar, which, they claimed, had stopped two years after they were given the status of an associate member in 2008.
After the bifurcation from Jharkhand State Cricket Association in 2001, Bihar were a full member till September that year when the Dalmiya-led BCCI had disaffiliated Bihar and in the 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Board the state was granted associate membership.
Tiwary claimed that since 2010, all the BCCI-run tournaments for the associates have stopped which has forced them to resort to protests with support of the state government of Bihar.
"We have got full support of our chief minister Nitish Kumar and all the former cricketers. There are some states (Gujarat) with six crore population but they have three full member associations. We have 11 crore population but there's been a total neglect from the BCCI."
Incidentally, Bihar has several factions with Aditya Verma's Cricket Association of Bihar, the Bihar Cricket Association led by Lalu Prasad Yadav and another one goes by the name of ABC -- Association of Bihar Cricket -- among others.
"At present the affiliation is with the body headed by Laluji. I've no problem who heads the association. We just want justice for our cricketers who should not be deprived of cricket any costs. Being the parent body, it's the responsibility of BCCI," claimed Tiwary.
