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On a day when the IPL teams took a break, the drama off the field took centrestage on Tuesday. Late in the evening, BCCI president Shashank Manohar and ICC president-elect and Union minister Sharad Pawar asked Lalit Modi to step down from the post of IPL commissioner, which Modi flatly refused.
A defiant Modi told reporters minutes after his landing in Mumbai from Dubai that resigning was out of the question for him. He is reportedly waiting till April 26 when the governing council of IPL will meet to discuss the matter. The pressure on Modi follows a week of fast paced developments that cost Shashi Tharoor, the minister of state for external affairs, his job on Monday. In turn, Tharoor told Parliament he has requested the Prime Minister to "investigate thoroughly the charges made against me. I have no desire to be an embarrassment to the government".
While Modi is seen as a protg of Pawar, sources within the BCCI said Manohar is likely to succeed him for the next edition of IPL. Interestingly IPL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle by the BCCI to run the highly lucrative cricket league of T-20 format.
Modi was in Dubai to attend an ICC meeting. He said the matter (of his resignation) would be discussed and a unanimous decision will be taken at the governing council meeting, which incidentally has been convened by Manohar.
"On April 26, we have the governing council (meeting). We will meet there and discuss all these allegations that are coming out," Modi told reporters on his arrival from Dubai. "I will present all the facts against all the allegations. There is nothing to worry about and we will carry on," Modi added. The demand and refusal came at the end of a day of hectic developments which saw Manohar flow down to Delhi from Mumbai to meet Pawar.
The meeting between Pawar and Manohar gained significance as it immediately followed a meeting between Pawar and his Cabinet colleagues Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram in Parliament in the morning. The trio reportedly discussed the IPL controversy and its political fallout over a slew of allegations of financial irregularities in the IPL bidding for two new franchises, Kochi and Pune, last month.
The government has already begun a probe into the financials and other details of various IPL franchises and all the IPL team owners have been asked to submit financial details about their franchises. The government is looking into the source and use of funding behind the IPL. Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams. Sources said the meeting of the IPL governing council on Monday is expected to serve a charge-sheet to Modi and if his replies are unsatisfactory he will be asked to put in his papers. Pawar, when asked whether he would ask Modi to step down, said: "Our approach should be to protect the interests of Indian cricket, cricket-loving public and players, including upcoming players."
When Manohar was asked about reports that BCCI top brass has made up its mind to oust Modi, he said: "I have not spoken to anyone in BCCI, so, don't know what others want. I am not aware of any such opinion. My personal views and decisions do not carry any weight. But a unanimous and appropriate decision will be taken at the governing council meeting."
Manohar had another round of meeting with BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla and Arun Jaitley, president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association and leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Meanwhile, the government is likely to widen its probe into the IPL as a team of economic investigators is being sent to Mauritius to probe funding of several consortiums owning the IPL teams. On Tuesday, Shashi Tharoor, the ousted minister of state for external affairs, gave a brief statement in the Lok Sabha. "My conscience is clear, I have done nothing illegal in the ongoing IPL controversy...I have requested the Prime Minister to investigate thoroughly the charges made against me. I have no desire to be an embarrassment to the government..." Tharoor said.
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