With the public showdown between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi team’s stakeholding structure snowballing into a major controversy, the BCCI has decided to convene a meeting of the IPL Governing Council within 10 days to discuss and take a decision on the episode.
A day after Modi’s controversial tweets virtually opened a can of worms on the Kochi franchise of the IPL, the BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla said the cricket board viewed the matter seriously.
“BCCI president has decided to convene an IPL Governing Council meeting within 10 days to discuss all the issues and take a decision,” Shukla told reporters after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.
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Shukla, who maintained that her meeting with Sonia Gandhi had nothing to do with the Tharoor issue, said, “Whatever allegations have been made from both the sides, all those issues will be deliberated upto at the meeting of the Governing Council.
“I don’t want to make a comment or any observation on what one has said against the other. All I was trying to suggest that all these issues will be discussed in the meeting convened by the BCCI president,” he said.
Asked whether he had a discussion with Sonia Gandhi on Tharoor’s role in the IPL Kochi team, Shukla said, “I had no discussion with Sonia Gandhi on this issue. It was a regular meeting with the AICC president.”
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Whether the BCCI took the public spat between IPL commissioner Modi and Minister of State for External Affairs Tharoor seriously, Shukla said, “BCCI president understands the urgency of the issue, that’s why he has convened the meeting.”
Modi had on Sunday disclosed the names of the free equity holders in the little known Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), which coughed up approximately Rs 1533 crore to bag the Kochi franchise, a move which put Tharoor in a spot of bother as Sunanda Pushkar, a lady reportedly close to the Minister, figured in the list.
Miffed by the disclosure, RSW threatened to send a legal notice to Modi and accused the IPL commissioner of breaking the confidentiality terms. The Kochi franchise has also complained to BCCI president Shashank Manohar about Modi’s indiscretion.
Modi hinted there was pressure on him not to reveal the details of who all owns Rendezvous.
“I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, especially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?” said Modi.
Tharoor had all along denied having a stake in the Kochi franchise, saying he played merely a facilitator’s role.
In a lengthy rejoinder on Tuesday, Tharoor denied calling Modi and requesting him not to disclose details of the RSW stakeholders.