NEW DELHI, APRIL 21
Beleaguered IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi appears set for a full-scale confrontation with the BCCI questioning the legality of the Governing Council meeting on Monday and threatening to disclose the stake-holding pattern of the teams in the league.
Under pressure to quit, a defiant Modi told the BCCI that the proposed meeting to consider his future was “illegal” and that only he had the powers to call such a meeting. He wanted the Governing Council meeting to be convened on May 1.
However, the BCCI is going ahead with the Monday deliberations, saying that its Secretary was fully empowered to convene the meeting which may even oust him in his absence.
The BCCI also disapproved his plans to disclose the details of share-holding of the team owners on the ground that it was a complex issue that needs to be considered in detail.
In a communication to BCCI President Shashank Manohar today, Modi said “till post 26th I do not propose to attend any unauthorised meeting”.
Disagreeing with him on convening of the Governing Council meeting on Monday, Modi said the BCCI secretary has never called a Council meeting since inception nor is he the convenor.
“He is only an ex-officio member of the GC as an office-bearer of BCCI and as he is a conflicted party who owns an IPL team he has never and can never call a GC meeting”, he said.
Modi said if the meeting does take place on April 26, instead of May 1 as I have asked, it will be deemed to be unofficial. He made it clear that he was not against the meeting but he wanted time to prepare the agenda, circulate it and also make documents available.
He told Manohar that he was misinformed that he (Modi) had time. “I have just returned from Dubai last night and was attending the ICC meeting which you asked me to attend on your behalf,” he said, adding the IPL had to move matches from Bangalore and arrange the play-offs and awards.
“We are working 24×7 and as such have had no time to prepare or will have time to do. Till post 26th, I do not propose to attend any unauthorised meeting,” he said in the e-mail to Manohar.
At the peak of his spat with Union Minister Shashi Tharoor last week that triggered charges and counter-charges over ownership patterns of the teams, Modi had sent an e-mail to Board President and other members that he was prepared to disclose the entire share-holding of each franchisee in view of the questions being raised on the ownership issues.
A copy of the communication was sent to all the franchise owners.
However, BCCI Pesident Shashank Manohar responded to Modi’s communication, saying “ownership is a complex issue and its legal complications need to be discussed. Ownership can be discussed at the GC meeting and considered there.”
Manohar’s opinion was supported by several Governing Council members including Ravi Shastri, Arun Jaitley, Niranjan Shah, Sanjay Jagdale, Rajiv Shukla and Chirayu Amin, sources said.
Sources close to Manohar said Modi was told that unilateral disclosure of ownership pattern would be in violation of the confidentiality clause in the agreement between the teams and the IPL.
In order to have access to papers and a discussion on them, there was a meeting needed in Mumbai. “We don’t need to take any action in haste.”
Manohar is believed to have told Modi what was he doing all the three years about the ownership issue that he was in a hurry now. Only after the media exposed some issues, he is talking of disclosing details.
The BCCI President also pointed out that his tweet on Kochi team ownership had already triggered a legal notice from one of the Kochi franchises on the ground it violated the confidentiality clause.
For him to have jumped the gun was a mistake, Manohar is believed to have told him adding that heavens would not have fallen in ten days.
However, BCCI sources expressed confidence that Modi would be voted out of the post notwithstanding his defiance and raising procedural issues.
The Government also appeared to be concerned at the highest level with Prime Minister Mammohan Singh discussing the IPL row with senior BCCI official Rajiv Shukla, a Modi detractor.
Though he refused to disclose what he discussed with the Prime Minister, he told reporters that the BCCI would not hesitate to take “drastic” steps, implying the ouster of Modi to clear the mess.
Indications emerged that Sharad Pawar and other influential members of the BCCI, including president Shashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan, and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah were gunning for his removal.
Union Minister and J and K Cricket Association President Farooq Abdullah, who yesterday appeared to have come to Modi’s rescue, today said he not the saviour or the hangman of the IPL Commisioner.
The IPL issue hotted up after Modi’s tweet last week raising questions over the ownership of Kochi IPL franchise following which Union Minister Shashi Tharoor had to quit. He was accused of having negotiated with the Kochi franchise to get sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crores.
Similarly, questions have been raised over the unsuccessful bids of Videocon and Adani groups for Ahmedabad and the alleged sweat equity offer made by them to relatives of a couple of Union Ministers.
Sensing Modi’s defiance, the BCCI has already started talking tough with Media and Finance Committee chairman Rajiv Shukla saying that if the situation demands, tough decisions will be taken when the IPL’s Governing Council meets.
“The question of people refusing to back down or not, don’t matter. After the meeting between BCCI President Shashank Manohar and Sharad Pawar yesterday, it has been decided that in the April 26 Governing Council meeting, we will sit together and unanimously decide what to do”, Shukla said.
“These decisions would in the interest of cricket and the BCCI. No matter how harsh they might seem, decisions would be taken to protect the BCCI and cricket’s image in the country. We have never compromised on our image in the past 60 years and there would be no compromise this time too”, he added.
The BCCI, on its part, is also talking to some of the key franchisees in the event and have explained to them the scenario that could arise after Modi’s removal.
The source said that there is some apprehension among the franchise owners on how it will work out but the BCCI is confident of being able to manage the entire show without Modi.
Deccan Chargers Vice President (Operation) Venkat Reddy today demanded that a franchise owner should be chosen as the next IPL Commissioner.
Reddy said IPL is fuelled by the franchises’ money and time is ripe for someone from among them taking over the reins from Modi, if he is removed from the post.
“At the end of day, it is franchises’ money (even though the tournament) is run by BCCI-IPL. Let the Governing Council remain and let one of the franchise owners to be the (IPL) Commissioner and one guy from the BCCI be the Joint Commissioner. Together, they can run it properly,” Reddy said.
