The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday demanded a probe into the affairs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and sought to know why the commercial venture was not taxed over the last two years.
With party MPs having suggested a probe by a joint parliamentary committee, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said inquiry should also be held under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the former Union Minister, Shashi Tharoor, who too has sought a probe into charges against him.
He said the resignation of Mr. Tharoor cannot be treated as the end of the matter and an inquiry is also needed since for the first time a Minister had been charged with using the office for personal benefit, if not directly for someone close to him.
As for the IPL, he said, the event is in its third year and there has been no income tax on its phenomenal earnings.
He said the CPI(M) considered that the IPL had nothing to do with cricket but was abusing the affection of the people of India for cricket.
The entire matter, besides the source of funding including money through the Mauritius route, needed to be investigated, he said, adding that the party had been demanding a review of the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty with that country.
Stating that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on many occasions said that India cannot afford crony capitalism, Mr. Yechury said the IPL was a “scandalous expression of crony capitalism.”
As for Mr. Tharoor's statement that his effort was to help Kerala, the CPI(M) leader said instead of IPL, the former Union Minister should have been worried about Below Poverty Line people in the State who were facing hardship on account of lower allocation of food grain from the Centre.
