The remarkable similarities between FIFA's Blatter and BCCI's Srinivasan

There is probably a school where people like Sepp Blatter and N Srinivasan go to where they are trained in the dark arts of controversy and corruption, and it probably looks a lot like Hogwarts.When the Supreme Court told Srinivasan to step aside as board president while hearing the IPL betting and fixing case, Srinivasan kept insisting that he had not been charged with anything and therefore should be able to stay on the throne.And Blatter’s defence was no different. “The president is not involved,” FIFA spokesperson Walter De Gregorio said on Wednesday. “Of course he is the head of FIFA, but he is not involved so how can you say he has to step down?”Firstpost's Tariq Engineer had earlier written that "Both the BCCI and FIFA share a similar philosophy as well. They have stridently maintained they are private bodies that operate within their own rules and guidelines and are not subject to outside interference. They are the Lords and Masters of their universe." Blatter and Srinivasan in their matching mastery of the art of survival could well be long-lost twins, separated at birth on a particularly hectic match day, adds Mint.They have also said remarkably similar things. Here are a few choice examples: In the middle of the corruption scandal Sepp Blatter told the FIFA Congress on 29 May 2015:Both Srini and Blatter were in denial of the fact that FIFA and BCCI failed to take responsibility of their associations/franchises. Football is not in a crisis, said Blatter in May 2011. Both have failed to admit that there are problems with the sporting bodies that they govern. An embattled N Srinivasan, the former BCCI chief affirmed, just hours after the Supreme Court decided to name him in the Indian Premier League corruption scandal:The nine FIFA officials who have been indicted face the very real threat of jail time. They face “maximum terms of incarceration of 20 years for the RICO conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, money laundering and obstruction of justice charges.”Srinivasan's son-in-law is accused of betting in the IPL and there's nothing to directly tie him yo Gurunath Meiyappan's wrong-doings.Both of them think there is a "conspiracy" working against them.Srini was convinced the North Indian lobby was conspiring against him.