Tharoor Dismisses IPL Allegations; LS Adjourned Twice, RS for Day

Dismissing opposition’s demands for his resignation, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has said that the allegations against him on the IPL issue are ‘baseless, ill-founded and ill-motivated’, said media reports.

“The real motive behind the public controversy that has been created around me is to make the Kochi team unviable and to assign this IPL franchise to elsewhere than Kerala,” he was quoted saying in the Lok Sabha amid opposition demand for his sacking.

The opposition members rushed to the well of the House not listening to the minister and insisted on his immediate sacking which prompted Speaker Meira Kumar to instruct Tharoor to lay the statement he was reading out, reports said.

In an attempt to mount pressure on IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, Tharoor was quoted as saying: “The game and the benefits accruing from it should not be retained only by an influential coterie with interests in a few privileged centres.”

The minister stressed that it was necessary in a democracy that institutions of interest to the general public are ‘run openly, rather than restricting their opportunities to a favoured few’, said reports.

Besides, he dismissed charges that he had misused his authority, reports said.

“No misuse of my official position was involved. The issue has nothing to do with my ministry. As a minister, I was in no position to influence the bid process, let alone its outcome,” he was quoted as saying.

“I had no role whatsoever in setting up the consortium led by Rendezvous Sports World itself or in any of the business decisions including its decision to bid for the franchise,” he was quoted as saying.

The Lok Sabha was adjourned twice due to opposition uproar on the issue while the Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day after one adjournment in the morning, said reports.

“I have neither invested nor received a rupee for my mentorship of the team,” Tharoor was quoted as saying.

Apparently referring to reports about his friendship with one of the Kochi stakeholders, marketing professional Sunanda Pushkar, he said, “Irrespective of my personal relationships with any of the consortium members, I have not benefitted, and do not intend to benefit, in any way financially from my association with the team now or at a later stage.”

(Based on internet reports)