New Delhi:
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, together with Lalit Modi, pressured the owners of the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) to give up their cricket franchise. That's the new allegation made on Thursday by the spokesperson for the Rendezvous Sports World, which owns the Kochi team.
Spokesperson Satyajit Gaekwad claims that the Gujarat chief minister joined IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi in suggesting that the group surrender its franchise. He did not, however, back his claims with details of when he met the Gujarat chief minister, or where.
And a Gujarat government denial was swift in coming. The allegation is baseless said Amit Shah, Home Minister, Gujarat, insisting that the "Gujarat cricket association is not involved."
The Kochi team has, however, denied allegations that a well-known ex-cricketer has free proxy ownership in the franchise. Sources have told NDTV that allegations have now surfaced about an ex-cricketer owning free equity in the team.
On Wednesday, CEO for the same group, Shailender Gaekwad, accused Lalit Modi of offering them 50 million dollars to abandon their bid. Lalit Modi has denied offering the group any sort of money. (
Read: Modi offered us 50 million dollars to sell team,say Kochi owners)
The group bought the team last month for 1530 crores. The deal has created a gigantic controversy because of its link with Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State for External Affairs. Lalit Modi tweeted earlier this week that 70 crores of equity was gifted to Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Tharoor.
The Opposition has demanded that Tharoor be sacked for criminal misconduct by a public servant.
Tharoor, speaking exclusively to NDTV, asserted that there is
no question of resigning. The Prime Minister has said on record that he will evaluate the situation when he returns from his trip to the US and Brazil. (
Read: Congress will talk Tharoor only once PM is back)
The Kochi team, like Tharoor, has said that Lalit Modi did not want their bid to succeed because he wanted an Ahmedabad team to win the franchise.
The Income Tax department has begun investigating the source of funds for the Kochi consortium. Lalit Modi continues to insist that the exact detail of the shareholders and their stake remains unclear.
Rendezvous denies this, and has said on Thursday that along with their details, the government should ask for the ownership details of all IPL teams to be made public.