New Delhi:
Sharad Pawar has said that while a company owned partly by him did try to buy a cricket team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the bid was, in fact, not made on behalf of the company, City Corporation. Pawar says the Board of the company allowed Aniruddha Deshpande, its Managing Director, to use the company name for a bid that the executive made in "a personal capacity."
While that may be Pawar's attempt to refute allegations that his family was involved in undeclared attempts to buy an IPL team, it has led to demands by the BJP to investigate Pawar's company more thoroughly, and to have "strong action" taken against Pawar, who is the Agriculture Minister and President of the Maharashtra Cricket Association.
Sources in the Corporate Affairs Ministry say that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is the parent body of the IPL, should demand an explanation from Deshpande for why he used his company's name for a bid made as an individual. The same sources say this points to an abuse of Deshpande's office as Managing Director, and raises serious issues about corporate governance.
Deshpande has told NDTV that after the Board of City Corporation said the company was not interested in bidding for the team, he was given permission to use the company name for his own offer. "Actually, when we had bought the tender, it was in the name of the company. The board did not approve of us bidding and they just gave me a go-ahead to use the name of the company," he said.
While that may be Pawar's attempt to refute allegations that his family was involved in undeclared attempts to buy an IPL team, it has led to demands by the BJP to investigate Pawar's company more thoroughly, and to have "strong action" taken against Pawar, who is the Agriculture Minister and President of the Maharashtra Cricket Association.
Sources in the Corporate Affairs Ministry say that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which is the parent body of the IPL, should demand an explanation from Deshpande for why he used his company's name for a bid made as an individual. The same sources say this points to an abuse of Deshpande's office as Managing Director, and raises serious issues about corporate governance.
Deshpande has told NDTV that after the Board of City Corporation said the company was not interested in bidding for the team, he was given permission to use the company name for his own offer. "Actually, when we had bought the tender, it was in the name of the company. The board did not approve of us bidding and they just gave me a go-ahead to use the name of the company," he said.
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