Sajjadul Alam alleges ‘direct interference’ after BCB shake-up

Former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Sajjadul Alam Bobby has said that the way National Sports Council (NSC) took away his councillorship and BCB directorship is akin to direct interference in board matters.

On Monday, the NSC asked two of BCB's directors, who were nominated for directorship under NSC quota, to step down. While cricket operations chairman Jalal Yunus had resigned, Sajjadul, the other director from NSC quota, had said that he did not want to resign, instead the NSC should determine what it wants to do with his councillorship and directorship.

The NSC, however, did not communicate with Sajjadul. A BCB board meeting took place at the sports ministry on Wednesday where Sajjadul was not invited. Nazmul Hassan Papon had earlier communicated his decision to resign through an email, a day before the board meeting.

On Wednesday, the NSC appointed Farque Ahmed and Nazmul Abedeen Fahim as BCB directors in place of Jalal and Sajjadul, with the former elected as BCB president.

Sajjadul today conveyed in a phone conversation with The Daily Star that he was surprised at how the NSC had acted.

"I am extremely surprised and disappointed. What the NSC did is akin to direct interference in the board's functioning. It is wholly unacceptable. 

"No one from NSC communicated directly with me. The BCB CEO forwarded a copy of an NSC notice on appointing new councillor to me on Whatsapp. It was sent to me after the meeting [at Ministry] at 7 PM," Sajjadul said.

There had been uncertainty surrounding BCB's activities following the ouster of the Awami League government on August 5, as Nazmul and many other board directors went into hiding.