Sourav Ganguly to stand down as director of ATK Mohun Bagan to avoid potential conflict of interest

The President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly, will soon step down from his role as director of ATK Mohun Bagan. The move comes on the back of the RPSG group buying the Lucknow-based IPL franchise for the forthcoming IPL season.

According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, Sourav Ganguly is in the process of relinquishing his role at ATK Mohun Bagan. This is owing to the fact that the club is owned by the RPSG group. Continuing as the director of the club while serving as the President of the BCCI could potentially raise a conflict of interest issue.

Sourav Ganguly also happens to be a shareholder at ATK Mohun Bagan, so it has made it doubly vital for him to step down from the role of director. In an interview with CNBC-TV 18, RPSG Group Chairman Sanjiv Goenka revealed that Ganguly was in the process of relinquishing his role at the football club.

"Well, I think he is going to step down from Mohun Bagan completely... I think today. It is for Sourav to make the announcement. I mean, sorry. I think I pre-empted it", said Goenka.

Going by Goenka's words, a formal announcement regarding Sourav Ganguly letting go of his role at ATK Mohun Bagan should come soon.

It may be noted that ATK Mohun Bagan was formed as a merger between the Indian Super League club ATK and I-League club Mohun Bagan AC. The owners of the former, including Sourav Ganguly and Goenka, bought an 80% stake in the latter.

Lucknow and Ahmedabad are the two new inductees into the IPL

RPSG Group, led by Sanjeev Goenka, made a groundbreaking bid to acquire the new IPL franchise based out of Lucknow for IPL 2022. CVC Capital, a private equity firm, made another bid to win a team based out of Ahmedabad. The bids were confirmed on Monday (October 25) in Dubai, in the presence of BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.

RPSG shelled out a whopping INR 7090 crore to bag the Lucknow franchise. Meanwhile, CVC Capital acquired the Ahmedabad franchise for a sum of INR 5625 crore.

Details pertaining to retention rules for the existing teams are yet to be announced by the BCCI. A mega auction is set to take place ahead of the 2022 season of the IPL.

The 2021 edition culminated in Dubai on October 15. Chennai Super Kings lifted their fourth IPL title by defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders in the summit clash.