New Delhi:
The battle between Indian Premier League (IPL) Commissioner Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor continues to unfold publicly. On Twitter on Tuesday morning, Tharoor tweeted "I've had enough" with a link to his official press release. (Read)
In Delhi, Sonia Gandhi has met with Tharoor's boss, SM Krishna and Rajiv Shukla, the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). (Watch: Modi vs Tharoor to be discussed at BCCI meet soon: Rajiv Shukla)
The controversy is centered on who exactly owns the new Kochi IPL team, bought last month for 1530 crores, and whether a close associate of Tharoor's, Sunanda Pushkar, was gifted stake worth 70 crores in the franchise.
In tweets on Monday, Modi has accused Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, of asking him not to investigate who makes up the Rendezvous Sports World group that led the consortium that bought the Kochi team. In tweets, Modi also revealed the details of the different partners and their stake in the Kochi team.
In his press release, Tharoor reasserts that his only role in the Kochi bid was that of an advisor and mentor. "Rendezvous includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he states. Adding that Modi guided the winning bid and presented himself as "a trusted friend," Tharoor says, "Various attempts were made by Mr Modi and others to pressure the consortium members to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state. His extraordinary breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium and myself personally is clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded elsewhere."
Rendezvous accused Modi of breaching confidentiality agreements. On Tuesday, Vivek Venugopal, a co-owner of the Kochi team told NDTV, " We have ... asked for Mr Lalit Modi to reveal the shareholding structures of all the other IPL teams owned by consortiums like Kings XI, Kolkata Knightriders and Rajasthan Royals. Why are the various owners of these teams and their stakes not being revealed?"
Shashank Manohar, the President of the BCCI, has also written to Modi, rebuking him over his public disclosure. " The issue, if any, could have been discussed at the governing council meeting and that action on your part of raising it on twitter is unbecoming of you as a chairman of the a sub-committee of the board. Your action is in serious breach of the confidentiality clause in the agreement.....The BCCI is a body which functions in accordance with its constitution and doesn't function through media."
In his reply to Manohar, Modi said, "It is the Kochi franchisee who has a lot to hide and as such have lied about who is the actual owners of the shares. Which I informed you earlier today....I have minutes of what they said at the meeting. And in fact when I questioned who the shareholders are --- they had no answer. In fact, they said they would revert back. Within minutes of me asking the same --- I got a call from Shashi Tharoor asking me not to ask about who these share-holders are."
Sources close to the Kochi team-owners say that there is no reason to question why Sunanda Pushkar was given free equity in the franchise. They believe that as a Sales and Marketing Expert who knows the Kerala and Middle East market well, she deserves to be rewarded for the expertise she offers to the consortium. As far as her close association with Tharoor goes, sources say "several other teams Sev have owners close to politicians. Does that mean that it's the politicians who have invested?"
The Kochi team-owners say Modi seems to be targeting Pushkar. They say they will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to take legal action against Modi for his remarks.
In Delhi, Sonia Gandhi has met with Tharoor's boss, SM Krishna and Rajiv Shukla, the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). (Watch: Modi vs Tharoor to be discussed at BCCI meet soon: Rajiv Shukla)
The controversy is centered on who exactly owns the new Kochi IPL team, bought last month for 1530 crores, and whether a close associate of Tharoor's, Sunanda Pushkar, was gifted stake worth 70 crores in the franchise.
In tweets on Monday, Modi has accused Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs, of asking him not to investigate who makes up the Rendezvous Sports World group that led the consortium that bought the Kochi team. In tweets, Modi also revealed the details of the different partners and their stake in the Kochi team.
In his press release, Tharoor reasserts that his only role in the Kochi bid was that of an advisor and mentor. "Rendezvous includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he states. Adding that Modi guided the winning bid and presented himself as "a trusted friend," Tharoor says, "Various attempts were made by Mr Modi and others to pressure the consortium members to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state. His extraordinary breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium and myself personally is clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded elsewhere."
Rendezvous accused Modi of breaching confidentiality agreements. On Tuesday, Vivek Venugopal, a co-owner of the Kochi team told NDTV, " We have ... asked for Mr Lalit Modi to reveal the shareholding structures of all the other IPL teams owned by consortiums like Kings XI, Kolkata Knightriders and Rajasthan Royals. Why are the various owners of these teams and their stakes not being revealed?"
Shashank Manohar, the President of the BCCI, has also written to Modi, rebuking him over his public disclosure. " The issue, if any, could have been discussed at the governing council meeting and that action on your part of raising it on twitter is unbecoming of you as a chairman of the a sub-committee of the board. Your action is in serious breach of the confidentiality clause in the agreement.....The BCCI is a body which functions in accordance with its constitution and doesn't function through media."
In his reply to Manohar, Modi said, "It is the Kochi franchisee who has a lot to hide and as such have lied about who is the actual owners of the shares. Which I informed you earlier today....I have minutes of what they said at the meeting. And in fact when I questioned who the shareholders are --- they had no answer. In fact, they said they would revert back. Within minutes of me asking the same --- I got a call from Shashi Tharoor asking me not to ask about who these share-holders are."
Sources close to the Kochi team-owners say that there is no reason to question why Sunanda Pushkar was given free equity in the franchise. They believe that as a Sales and Marketing Expert who knows the Kerala and Middle East market well, she deserves to be rewarded for the expertise she offers to the consortium. As far as her close association with Tharoor goes, sources say "several other teams Sev have owners close to politicians. Does that mean that it's the politicians who have invested?"
The Kochi team-owners say Modi seems to be targeting Pushkar. They say they will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to take legal action against Modi for his remarks.
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