Crown’s James Packer has aborted his plan to get former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett onto the board of rival casino operator Echo Entertainment.

Mr Packer had forced the convening of an Echo shareholder meeting to consider a proposal to oust chairman John Story and appoint Mr Kennett to the board.

But Mr Story resigned from his position on Friday, and Mr Packer has subsequently withdrawn the request for the meeting.

Mr Story was asked to resign by the Echo board, as it deemed Mr Packer’s campaign against him was damaging the company.

Mr Story wanted the issue put to a shareholder vote, but accepted the board’s view and handed in his resignation, Echo said on Friday.

The Echo board had previously said it would oppose Mr Kennett’s nomination, and other major shareholders had also voiced their opposition to the move.

“We continue to believe that Jeff Kennett would add significant value to Echo as a director,” Mr Packer said in a statement on Friday.

“We appreciate that this will be best achieved with the support of the Echo board.”

Echo has appointed John O’Neill, a non-executive board director and chief executive of the Australian Rugby Union, as acting chairman.

“We welcome the appointment of John O’Neill as acting chairman of Echo and look forward to the Echo board now restoring the company’s relationship with its key stakeholders including the NSW government,” Mr Packer said.

“Our shareholding in Echo is a material investment for Crown and we look forward to having discussions with Echo and exploring opportunities to work together to create value for all shareholders.”

Echo operates the only casino in Sydney, The Star, and Mr Packer was keen to increase Crown’s presence in the city.

Crown operates the Crown casino in Melbourne, the Burswood casino in Perth, and has interest in casinos in Macau.