Mumbai:
After a virtual all-nighter with Income Tax officials, Lalit Modi was convinced he has nothing to worry about. "I am still IPL Commissioner," he said, adding, "They took the photocopies and expressed satisfaction over the entire (bidding) process. We are open to scrutiny by any agency as we have done no wrong and were are totally transparent." (Read: Income Tax officials visit IPL, Lalit Modi offices)
But the truth is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may use Modi's vicious battle with Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, to launch its strongest offensive yet against Modi, who is immensely powerful, and widely disliked within the BCCI.
The working committee of the BCCI is meeting on the 24th to decide whether to cut Modi down-to-size by appointing a co-chairman of the Indian Premier League, which is a sub-committee of the BCCI. Sources say Shashank Manohar, the current chief of the BCCI, may be elected to head the IPL with Modi.
Modi has irritated the BCCI by landing the association in an inquiry that could see whole teams of skeletons tumbling out. Will he survive?
Allegedly against him in the BCCI are Manohar, N Srinivasan and Sanjay Jagdele. Srinivasan, who is the BCCI Secretary, also co-owns the Chennai Super-Kings.
Modi's supports are Jagmohan Dalmiya, IS Bindra, and Union Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar, though sources in Pawar's camp say he's annoyed that his own name has been dragged into the current controversy. (Read: Now, Pawar play in Kochi IPL story)
Alleged fence-sitters are Rajiv Shukla of the Congress, and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who received considerable support from the anti-Modi camp within the BCCI after the Kotla pitch controversy. Jaitley, who is the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), had egg on his face late last year after the Capital's Ferozshah Kotla pitch was declared dangerous and unfit for international matches. But the BCCI had strongly backed Delhi against the ICC decision, with BCCI president Shashank Manohar at the forefront of that effort.
The Tharoor controversy is undoubtedly one of Modi's making, and many say it was a horrific miscalculation. Earlier this week, the IPL commissioner tweeted the details of the ownership of the consortium that won the Kochi franchise last month. He implicated Tharoor, by revealing that a close friend of the minister's, Sunanda Pushkar, had been gifted equity worth 70 crores.
The Opposition rose to the occasion with all its might, demanding Tharoor be sacked for misusing his office to lobby for the Kochi franchise. The charges were that Pushkar served as a front for Tharoor to receive a 70-crore kickback.
Tharoor denies the charges, arguing in Parliament and in press releases that he has not financially benefited from the deal and that he wanted, only, to ensure that his home state got a slice of the cricket pie that the whole nation is feasting upon.
Meanwhile, Modi's detractors, Tharoor, and cricket experts pointed out that the billion-dollar IPL league is flush with funds that seem impossible to trace. Modi himself, it was pointed out, has familial links to three teams in the league.
But the truth is that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may use Modi's vicious battle with Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, to launch its strongest offensive yet against Modi, who is immensely powerful, and widely disliked within the BCCI.
The working committee of the BCCI is meeting on the 24th to decide whether to cut Modi down-to-size by appointing a co-chairman of the Indian Premier League, which is a sub-committee of the BCCI. Sources say Shashank Manohar, the current chief of the BCCI, may be elected to head the IPL with Modi.
Modi has irritated the BCCI by landing the association in an inquiry that could see whole teams of skeletons tumbling out. Will he survive?
Allegedly against him in the BCCI are Manohar, N Srinivasan and Sanjay Jagdele. Srinivasan, who is the BCCI Secretary, also co-owns the Chennai Super-Kings.
Modi's supports are Jagmohan Dalmiya, IS Bindra, and Union Minister and former BCCI chief Sharad Pawar, though sources in Pawar's camp say he's annoyed that his own name has been dragged into the current controversy. (Read: Now, Pawar play in Kochi IPL story)
Alleged fence-sitters are Rajiv Shukla of the Congress, and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who received considerable support from the anti-Modi camp within the BCCI after the Kotla pitch controversy. Jaitley, who is the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), had egg on his face late last year after the Capital's Ferozshah Kotla pitch was declared dangerous and unfit for international matches. But the BCCI had strongly backed Delhi against the ICC decision, with BCCI president Shashank Manohar at the forefront of that effort.
The Tharoor controversy is undoubtedly one of Modi's making, and many say it was a horrific miscalculation. Earlier this week, the IPL commissioner tweeted the details of the ownership of the consortium that won the Kochi franchise last month. He implicated Tharoor, by revealing that a close friend of the minister's, Sunanda Pushkar, had been gifted equity worth 70 crores.
The Opposition rose to the occasion with all its might, demanding Tharoor be sacked for misusing his office to lobby for the Kochi franchise. The charges were that Pushkar served as a front for Tharoor to receive a 70-crore kickback.
Tharoor denies the charges, arguing in Parliament and in press releases that he has not financially benefited from the deal and that he wanted, only, to ensure that his home state got a slice of the cricket pie that the whole nation is feasting upon.
Meanwhile, Modi's detractors, Tharoor, and cricket experts pointed out that the billion-dollar IPL league is flush with funds that seem impossible to trace. Modi himself, it was pointed out, has familial links to three teams in the league.
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