Amin Pathan’s faction withdrew the no-confidence motion against Lalit Modi. Amin Pathan’s faction withdrew the no-confidence motion against Lalit Modi.

Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi will continue to remain president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) after BJP leader Amin Pathan withdrew his no-confidence motion against Modi on Tuesday.

Nine months after he ‘ousted’ Modi by way of a no-confidence motion, RCA vice-president Pathan withdrew the motion before retired Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra “in the interest of cricket in Rajasthan”.

Justice Mishra is expected to announce the formal withdrawal of the motion on Wednesday 11 am.

“I once again look forward to making #RCA the best and most forward thinking,” Modi tweeted soon after the motion was withdrawn.

However, a BCCI official said Modi’s return as president will change nothing on the ground as the RCA will continue to remain suspended as long as Modi is attached to the association. The official further added that the board doesn’t envisage any role for the former IPL commissioner in the days to come. In 2013 Modi was expelled from the BCCI and banned for life on charges of indiscipline and misconduct.

Talking to The Indian Express, Pathan, who is president of the BJP’s minority cell, said: “Cricket had stopped in the districts and players were suffering because of that. Plus, we couldn’t get the required numbers. These guys (the Modi faction) are used to litigation so they would have stretched it forever. So we decided to withdraw our motion in the interest of cricket.”

After the March motion was challenged by Modi in the high court, the latter directed the introduction of a fresh no-confidence motion under the supervision of Justice Mishra. The new motion was introduced on Tuesday during which the Pathan camp reportedly could not get the support of the required 25 district cricket associations, out of 33.

The two rival factions reached a compromise after which Pathan withdrew the motion against Modi and two other office bearers — Somendra Tiwari (secretary), Pawan Goyal (treasurer) and Mehmood Abdi (deputy president and Modi’s lawyer). “Yes, the motion was withdrawn and Modi will soon address the RCA office bearers via video-conferencing from London,” a close confidant of Modi’s told The Indian Express.

“You know how these things work. There is politics of a very high level at play here. Lot of political pressure,” said an aide of Pathan’s.

In May last year, the BCCI had suspended the RCA minutes after Modi was elected its president. Since the no-confidence motion, Pathan was the acting president of the ‘banned’ RCA. With Modi returning to the helm, the tension between the RCA and the BCCI could resurface. “That’s between Modi and BCCI. Let them fight over it. Cricket in Rajasthan shouldn’t suffer,” Pathan said.

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