Everyone was much excited about the Kerala IPL Team we got on 21st of March, but during last week the hot news in media were the Shashi Tharoor’s involvement in the Kerala IPL Team.
The Shashi Tharoor-Lalit Modi row over ownership of Kochi IPL team escalated assuming political proportions with the BJP demanding sacking of Minister of State for External Affairs for alleged corruption and Congress calling it “absurd”.
The Left parties joined the campaign against Tharoor and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) demanded he must step down till his name ‘is cleared of any unethical or irregular behaviour.’
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor is in a fresh controversy around the Kochi IPL team he “helped” set up that has pitted him and its owners against IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi.
Modi has not only publicly disclosed the names of some of the owners of the consortium that bought the franchisee for $333 million but has also alleged that he was told by Tharoor not to ask who these shareholders were.
This startling claim assumes significance since at the heart of the controversy is the reported 19% stake owned by Sunanda Pushkar in the 25% free equity owned by Rendezvous Sports World Pvt Ltd, the company that led the consortium that finally won the team. The value of Pushkar’s stake is $15.82 million (about Rs 70 crore).
Pushkar is known to be close to Tharoor who, in fact, has been seen introducing her in social circles as his “fiancée.” Currently married — and in the process of separation — Tharoor had earlier said he only offered encouragement, blessings and expert advice to the Kochi bidders.
Embattled Shashi Tharoor, India’s minister of state for external affairs, said he would not oblige his critics by resigning as he had done no wrong in the billowing controversy over the Kochi IPL franchise.
‘If I had done anything wrong, I would have resigned. To resign because people have chosen to deliberately misrepresent you or misperceive you means that you are giving more importance to other people’s perception than to your own character and your own integrity. I am not going to resign,’ Tharoor.
Slamming Modi, Tharoor said: ‘The unethical efforts that have been made by Modi and others to thwart the Kerala franchise which had been won fair and square in a transparent bidding process are disgraceful.
‘I deny Lalit Modi’s allegation that I called him during his meeting with investors in the Kochi consortium in Bangalore Saturday night in order to press him not to question the composition of the consortium,’ the minister said in a statement.
