It was 2004 when Jagmohan Dalmiya pulled off a coup in his hometown Kolkata, beating Sharad Pawar by a solitary vote. More than a decade later, the situation may not be the same in Chennai as that of 2004, but Dalmiya once again stumped Pawar by refusing to lend him those crucial two votes – as proposer and seconder – needed to become the president of Indian Cricket Board on Sunday.

It was not a surprise development, after BJP leader Arun Jaitley tilted the odds against Pawar by reportedly telling his party big bosses that "Maratha strongman is not acceptable to him".

"It was a call from the 'topmost BJP leader', who requested Pawar sahib not to file his nomination papers, on Saturday night that changed the equation," Pawar's confidante disclosed to dna. Jaitley left everything to his protégé Anurag Thakur before boarding a flight to US to join his ailing wife.

Despite this setback, Pawar, who already reached Chennai along with his team on Saturday, held many rounds of meetings till late in the night. It has been reliably learnt that Dalmiya, who is facing health issues for quite some time now, was offered a post of 'chief patron' to be specially created after elections by the Pawar camp, but the former ICC president refused to bite the bait.

"Clearly, it was East Zone's turn to nominate the president for the three-year term and Dalmiya wanted to ensure that a candidate from the same zone occupy it than an outsider parachuting in," said an EZ member.

Meanwhile, it was a masterstroke by outgoing BCCI president N Srinivasan, who has been barred by Supreme Court from contesting election that changed the entire scenario on a day of filing nominations. Eager to keep his vice-like grip on BCCI, Srinivasan unconditionally lent support to Dalmiya, thus, shutting even a remote possibility of Pawar's return.

Dalmiya, too, got excited by this development and refused to get into any dialogue of proposing any other name for the top post. Judging the situation, Pawar group had no other option but to back the grand old man of Indian cricket to save its image. "Forget Srinivasan, he had to do what he did. But it was certainly the BJP's shift after Jaitley's objection which left Pawar sahib with no other option but to withdraw from the race," said a Pawar loyalist.

dna has reliably learnt that the only consolation to Pawar is that former BCCI president and Mr Clean of BCCI, Shashank Manohar is likely to be accommodated in the ICC, replacing Srinivasan. "This will all depend on who is going to win the remaining three posts of secretary, treasurer and joint secretary. In case Srinivasan nominees grab most of the chunk, then it would probably not be an easy task for Dalmiya to remove Srinivasan from ICC's post," said an insider.

Thakur's fate in balance

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association president Thakur is facing a tough fight from Srinivasan's handpicked nominee and outgoing secretary Sanjay Patel for the same post. Though Pawar camp is supporting Thakur, anything could happen in the next few hours keeping in mind how BJP stalled MCA chief's plans.

Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association's Rajiv Shukla is also engaged in a tough battle against outgoing treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary, while Goa Cricket Association's Chetan Desai will have to beat Srinivasan's nominee and Jharkhand Cricket Association's president Amitabh Chaudhary for joint secretary's post.

The battle will also be fought for vice-president's posts as Pawar group Ravi Savant (West Zone), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Central) are up against Srinivasan group's TC Mathew (WZ), CK Khanna (CZ) and ML Nehru (NZ). The other two candidates for the VC post elected unopposed are G Gangaraju (SZ) and Gautam Roy (EZ) from the Srinivasan's camp.

Delhi (DDCA) representative CK Khanna's presence in Srinivasan camp certainly raises many an eyebrow because he is hardly expected to do anything against the wishes of Jaitley. However, it will be interesting to see how the things will pan out on Monday as Srinivasan is leaving no stone unturned to embarrass his detractors who all mistakenly took him lightly in the event of legal battle.

Whatever be the outcome, one thing is for sure – the BCCI is set to remain in the shadow of Srinivasan for the times to come!