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City Corporation Limited Managing Director Aniruddha Pradyumna Deshpande was busy throughout Friday, hounded by the media, fielding queries on his failed bid to own the IPL Pune team.
His appearance was far removed from the calmness of the lake at the 400-acre Amanora Park, the project which entrenched him firmly in the real estate business.
Deshpande wondered why the Pawar family's name was dragged in. "I don't know why this controversy erupted after three months. The Pawar family has nothing to do with the IPL bid, which I had made purely in my personal capacity. Yes, it was in the name of the City Corporation as the bid document was purchased in the company's name earlier and by the time the bid decision was taken, the time to purchase a new document was over. So I sought permission to use the company's name. Had we won the bid, we had plans to float a new consortium for which we would have been given nine months. We would have done it with Mumbai-based real estate company Akkruti Builders and others. We have extremely transparent procedures at every stage," Deshpande told The Indian Express.
Asked about the Pawar family owning 16 per cent stake in the company, Deshpande said they have had it since 2004, when the company was floated. He said his relations with the Pawars was confined to them being shareholders of the company. He said there were 8-10 other shareholders, but avoided naming any.
Amanora Park Town, touted to be one of the largest in the country, turned Deshpande's fortunes around. His rise to prominence coincided with the coming up of skyscrapers on this township developed by City Corporation Limited in Hadapsar, with glass-facade towers, acres of greenery and a specially developed lake. The project catapulted him from just another developer in Pune into the big league.
He started his career 23 years ago and came from a fairly modest background, say real estate industry insiders. While he dabbled in many projects earlier, especially as part of the Sharda Group that had 3-4 other partners, his first big break was as promoter of the Lake City Corporation Private Limited, better known as LAVASA.
He later sold his stakes to Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and moved onto Amanora, which now boasts over 14 million square feet of development.
Recently, the developer had been promoting his township through a series of events like a poetry reading session by Amitabh Bachchan that coincided with Deshpande's recent 50th birthday.
Deshpande said he had bid for the Pune IPL team as the city was getting a new stadium and "we wanted a Pune Team in the IPL. "Currently City Corporation Limited owns a franchise in the Maharashtra Premier League, called the Torna Tigers."
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