Shukla, on his part, said on Thursday that he would not like to become IPL chief again.
Sources said, it was Rahul Gandhi's hidden hand that set the ball rolling against the continuance of N. Srinivasan as BCCI head honcho.
Sources said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was annoyed with the growing perception that the political class had ganged up to protect the corrupt in the BCCI and asked the party not to be guided by Shukla.
Earlier, many senior leaders were guarded as some union ministers too were linked to the BCCI,but Rahul has given a clear signal through his confidante Sports Minister Jitendra Singh and other young ministers like Sachin Pilot that Srinivasan must quit and the game of cricket should be cleaned up.
Srinivasan on Thursday evening faced fresh flak, when the BCCI treasurer Ajay Shirke said, had his relative been found guilty of such irregularities, he would have resigned long back.
Shirke threatened to resign if Srinivasan did not, at least, call a working committee meeting to discuss the crisis.
“If I was in Srinivasan's place and my son-in-law had been involved in some way — or even seen to be involved — I would not have hung on to that chair for a minute while investigations were on,” Shirke said.
Seen to be close to Pawar, Shirke added: “I have no ambitions to go further in the BCCI — I would rather resign and go and play with my dogs.”
