Sourav Ganguly doesn’t think that his recent tweet promoting a fantasy app My11Circle was a conflict of interest for him as the BCCI president.
Ganguly, during the recently concluded India vs Bangladesh T20I series, had urged his twitter followers to make their teams on My 11 Circle.
My11circle is a direct rival of Dream11 which is one of the official partners of the BCCI. The board president endorsing a rival brand of the board’s official partner seems to be a case of conflict of interest.
But, the president has different thoughts. According to Ganguly, it would have been a case of conflict of interest if he had promoted Dream11, but he has promoted a different brand and it has nothing to do with the board. How can it be a conflict?
Saurav Ganguly, who is fondly called the prince of Kolkata, was questioned on the ongoing controversy earlier today by a reporter of Indian Express and the 47-year old didn’t shy away from making his thoughts absolutely clear on the issue.
“I don’t think there is any conflict in it, it’s my personal thing. Had I tweeted about Dream11, it would have come under conflict of interest. I don’t see any conflict in that tweet.” Ganguly was quoted saying.
There are divided opinions over Ganguly’s tweet. Some people are in line with his thoughts that his promotion of My11Circle was a personal issue as he endorses the app in his personal capacity, but, some people think he can’t do that anymore as he is now in charge of the BCCI.
BCCI has an ombudsman which makes decisions on the conflict of interest cases. It will be interesting to see if the ombudsman comes into picture with regard to Ganguly’s position as the BCCI president and simultaneously, an endorser of the rival brand of the board’s official partner.
