Shanthi Rajagopal

The IPL controversy is the talk of the cricket world. Read the complete background and know the highs and lows of BCCI’s IPL. 

The IPL (India Premier League) is a highly successful, franchise-based Twenty20 event that attracts attracted players on a wide global level. The Indian Premier League is a competition initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) headquartered in Mumbai and supervised by BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi, chairman & commissioner for IPL, and CEO, Sundar Raman. It presently includes 8 teams (franchises) consisting of players from different countries. It was started after altercation between the BCCI and the Indian Cricket League.

It was the first sporting event ever to be broadcast live on the popular video sharing website Youtube.  The Indian Premier League’s brand value was estimated to be around $4.13 billion (over Rs 18,000 crore) in 2010. According to global sports salaries review, IPL is the second highest-paid league, based on first-team salaries on a pro-rata basis, second only to the NBA. It is calculated that the average salary of IPL over a year is £2.5 million.

In South Africa last year during the tough economic conditions, the country benefited remarkably from the IPL as an economic boost. There was significant economic activity from thousands of tourists converging in that country. Hotels, restaurants, gift stores, and other small businesses benefited from increased spending from visitors and the IPL. It softened the economic upheaval in South Africa that plagued the world.

The best of the IPL in South Africa was not victories or the Bollywood stars, but the frequent recognition of hundreds of children, teachers, and schools in every game. Lots of needed scholarships and gifts were given out in each game to children and schools. Four schools from each host city were selected for a scholarship fund to improve educational opportunities and many local papers in South Africa cited the benefits of the IPL to numerous communities by raising awareness and community interactions.

The winning bidders for the eight franchises were announced on 24 January 2008. While the total base price for auction was US $400 million, the auction fetched US $723.59 millions

On 21 March 2010, Pune and Kochi were unveiled as the two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. The base price was $225 million. While Pune was bought by Sahara Adventure Sports Group for $370 million, the Kochi franchise was bought by Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333.3 million. The second franchise auction fetched total $703 million.

What has made it such a controversy this year? According to news sources the issue starts with key players like Lalit Modi and Sashi Tharoor.

Shashi Tharoor’s career in the United Nations began in 1978 as a staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. From 1981 to 1984 he served at the UNHCR office in Singapore. In 1989 he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations in New York. In 1997 Tharoor was appointed Director of Communications and Special Projects and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January 2001, he was appointed as the Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, and as the head of Department of Public Information (UNDPI). In this capacity, he was responsible for the communication strategy, enhancing the image and effectiveness of the UN. In 2003, the Secretary-General appointed him to the additional responsibility of United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism and during his tenure at the UNDPI, Tharoor undertook a number of initiatives, ranging from organizing and conducting the first-ever UN seminar on anti-Semitism, the first-ever UN seminar on Islamophobia and launched an annual list of “Ten Under-Reported Stories the World Ought to Know About”

On 9 February 2007, Tharoor resigned from the post of UN Under-Secretary-General on and left the UN effective 1 April 2007.His political career in India began on March 2009.Shashi Tharoor contested the Indian General Elections in 2009 as Congress Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) in Kerala Though criticized as an “elite outsider” he went on to win defeating his nearest CPI rival P. Ramachandran Nair by a margin of approximately 100,000 votes. Subsequently Shashi Tharoor was selected as Minister of State in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. On 28 May 2009 he was sworn in as the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs.

Tharoor’s use of his political website (www.tharoor.in) and knowledge  in technologies like Twitter quickly earned him a celebrity status. He went on to become the first Indian celebrity to get 100,000 followers on Twitter.

On 18 April 2010 Tharoor resigned from his post as Minister of State for External Affairs after being instructed to do so by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over allegations of corruption and misuse of office to get a share in the IPL franchisee of Cochin.

News sources reveal that the whole episode began on April 12, 2010 when Lalit Modi, the Commissioner of the Indian Premier League exposed details of the stakeholders in the new Kochi IPL team that was sold in March 2010 for Rs 1530 crores.

Sunanda Pushkar, a close associate of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, owned 18 per cent free equity of the franchise. One of the partners in the consortium was Rendezvous Sports World which was given 25 per cent of the franchise at no cost; of this 18 per cent, was gifted to Sunland, the balance was divided among three other members of Rendezvous. The battle between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor continued to unfold publicly.

Tharoor reaffirmed in his press release that his role was more an advisory one   in the Kochi bid. He stated that Rendezvous included a numerous people, including Sunanda Pushkar, an acquaintance and many others.

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ICC vice president Sharad Pawar announced a meeting of the IPL governing council for next Monday, one week after Indian Junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor quit because he allegedly was given a quarter share of the new Kochi franchise.

Tharoor helped put together a group of investors who last month bid more than $330 million to bring a team to Kochi, a port city in southern Kerala state, part of which he represents in parliament.
The bid was successful in the auction and the team was recruited in the competition, but the IPL chairman Lalit Modi raised questions why a 25 percent share was given to a group that included a friend of Tharoor’s. It is alleged the shares were a hidden gift for Tharoor.

But right after Tharoor’s resignation, former Railways Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and several other lawmakers asked that Modi resign too. That is not an easy thing to happen   because as vice-president of the BCCI he has been instrumental in boosting its revenues, brokering television deals and sponsorship associations that could see it top the $1 billion mark in the next five years.

According to news sources Modi was controversial himself, as accusations of drug dealing and abduction while at university are attributed to him, but such claims were never proven.

Modi came up with the idea of a new Indian cricket league came 14 years ago, but resisted the involvement of the BBCI at that time, citing too many vested interested within India’s main cricketing body that would have spoiled his ideas, but being an astute financial wizard he did not ignore the monetary potential of Indian cricket and the IPL.

He graduated   from Duke University in the U.S., in sports management and returned to India to launch ESPN and 10 Sports.

Coming from a family that controls Modi Enterprise, an industrial conglomerate worth $1.5 billion, Modi admits his family were concerned that he was moving away from business and spending so much time with cricket while setting up the IPL.

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said income tax authorities were investigating the sources and channels of funding for the team owners and he made a statement that nobody who is guilty of this misdemeanor would be spared. A ban was called on the IPL by many lawmakers.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who has been in the eye of the  IPL  controversy   where he has been alleged to have been involved in the Kochi IPL cricket franchise bid  submitted his resignation.

In the second week of April 2010, Mr. Tharoor met the prime minister to present his side of the story over the controversy. Besides the prime minister, the meeting was attended by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A.K. Antony.

According to news sources an official statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said: “Dr. Shashi Tharoor, the Minister of State for External Affairs, has submitted his resignation from the Union Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister has sent his resignation to the President with the recommendation that it be accepted. President Pratibha Patil has accepted the resignation.”

Mr. Tharoor’s fate was sealed at a one-on-one meeting between Dr. Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi just before the meeting of the Core Group of senior Ministers.

The key players in the IPL controversy can be described as follows:

Shashi Tharoor: India’s junior foreign minister said he ‘mentored’ the Kochi franchise before the bidding process for new IPL teams last month. He said he was not having any financial gain from it, and insisted he only wanted to see an IPL team in Kerala. But when Modi disclosed the shareholding structure of the Kochi franchise, Tharoor’s close friend Sunanda Pushkar was revealed to have a stake. Allegations of conflict of interest followed, and the ensuing controversy forced him to tender his resignation.

A marketing professional based in Dubai, Sunanda Pushkar  was given a 4.7% stake which is estimated to be worth   approximately US$1.5 million – as sweat equity for her work in the franchise. It became an issue for her when Tharoor did not disclose it and – in her perception made her a media victim. She has apparently, according to news sources offered to return the stake, saying she wants no part of the IPL.

The brain behind the IPL is Lalit Modi. He is a powerful and successful entrepreneur, but things started unraveling for him once he disclosed the pattern of the Kochi franchise ownership. The face off with Shashi Tharoor put the spotlight on the IPL’s financial dealings, and the league’s offices were raided by tax men.

There were allegations of bribes by the Kochi franchise, of kickbacks in the reworked broadcast deal, Modi’s relatives owning stakes in several franchises, all of which led to a disagreement with several of his colleagues in the BCCI, ultimately leading to his suspension.

A group of businessmen who came together to bid for the Kochi franchise formed the Rendezvous Sports World. The BCCI president, Shashank Manohar and the man who is the front-runner to take over as interim IPL chairman after the dismissal of Modi. Unlike the high profile that Modi has maintained, Manohar is almost austere and inscrutable. A lawyer by profession, he mostly works from his hometown of Nagpur. He is a simple and disciplined person and has repeatedly turned down Modi’s pleas for the governing council meeting on Monday to be postponed, and his emails disagreeing with Modi over revealing ownership details of all franchises have been made public.

Many VIP Personalities like some movie stars and others have also been involved in the IPL controversy according to news sources. The BCCI top brass on Saturday held a series of meetings to draw up a strategy for Monday’s crucial Governing Council meeting amid intense speculation that beleaguered IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is being persuaded to step down voluntarily from the high-flying post. Shashi Tharoor, who quit from the union council of ministers over the IPL row, on Tuesday April 20, 2010 reportedly, insisted that he had done nothing unethical or illegal and has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe the charges made against him.

April 25, 2010: Chennai Super Kings played a superb game to beat the Mumbai Indians by 22 runs to clinch the IPL season3 trophy. Suresh Raina was the man of the match.

M.S.Dhoni has achieved another milestone in his short career, it was he who started to turn the game in Chennai Super Kings favor when he came out to bat, his deputy Suresh Raina capitalized on two dropped catches to score a crucial fifty in the big IPL final to post 168/5 in their 20 overs. Chennai Super Kings is now the undisputed winners of IPL3.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) suspended Lalit Modi as Chairman of the Indian Premier League, and also perhaps as vice-president of the Board, under BCCI Rules and Regulations of 32 (vii) (misconduct and procedure to deal with), soon after the completion of the final match between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai on Sunday night on 25.04.2010.

Earlier, Mr. Modi, who had challenged the authority of BCCI president Shashank Manohar for a week, decided to attend the extraordinary IPL Governing Council meeting at the Cricket Centre here on Monday. The IPL is a sub-committee of the BCCI.

On 26.04.2010 evening, a release from the IPL-engaged PR agency said: “The IPL Chairman & Commissioner, Lalit Modi, today circulated the notice informing members of the Governing Council of the Extraordinary Meeting to be held on April 26th, 2010, at the Headquarters of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The Extraordinary Meeting of the Governing Council will be convened at 10 a.m.”

The release also said that the items on the agenda would be (1) discussion on any complaints received in writing from members of the Governing Council against the Chairman and (2) members of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Furthermore, the release said the Governing Council members had been requested to give all complaints in writing with the requisite supporting documents at the meeting on the morning of April 26, 2010 to the Chairman and Commissioner, so that they can be replied in full.

BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan had mailed a press release informing that the IPL Council will meet at the Cricket Centre, Mumbai, at 10 a.m. on 26.04.2010 and that it will be followed by a media conference at 12 noon, the same day.

Mr. Modi had virtually defied Mr. Manohar’s request to convene an emergent meeting of the Council here on April 26. He had called it “unofficial” and that he does not “propose to attend any unauthorised meeting.” Soon after the Income Tax searches at the offices of the BCCI and IPL, Mr. Manohar wrote to Mr. Modi saying: “In view of the ongoing situation with regard to the functioning of the IPL and the various allegations levelled against the functioning of the IPL, it has become necessary to hold an Emergent Meeting of the Governing Council. Kindly issue a notice to all the Governing Council Members for a meeting on 26/04/10 at 10 a.m. at BCCI Headquarters immediately.”

The crucial IPL Governing Council meeting began Mumbai on 26.04.2010, barely hours after the BCCI suspended Lalit Modi as the Chairman and Commissioner of the high-profile Twenty20 event.

BCCI president Shashank Manohar, vice-President Arun Jaitley, secretary N Srinivasan, media and finance committee chairman Rajiv Shukla and IPL vice-chairman Niranjan Shah were among the members of the council present at the Board headquarters.

Mr. Modi was to chair the meeting before he was suspended and issued a show cause notice for alleged financial irregularities late last night. Mr. Modi has been asked to explain within 15 days why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for what the BCCI described as ‘individual misdemeanors’

“While we rejoice and celebrate the great success of IPL Season 3, the alleged acts of individual misdemeanors of Mr Lalit K Modi, Chairman IPL and Vice President BCCI have brought a bad name to the administration of Cricket and the game itself,” Mr. Manohar said in a press release which announced Mr. Modi’s suspension from the Board, IPL, the Working Committee and any other committee.

Due to this, Mr. Modi cannot participate in meeting that will go into the alleged financial wrong-doings in the IPL and how to set right things.

The IPL Governing Council also includes Punjab Cricket Association chief I S Bindra, BCCI treasurer M P Pandove, vice-President Chirayu Amin, joint secretary Sanjay Jagdale, J&K Cricket Association chief Farooq Abdullah and former India captains Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.

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