20 April 2010
DELHI: Despite pressure mounting from all quarters, Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi said he was not stepping down from his post.
“There is no chance of resigning. I will present all my facts at the Governing Council meeting,” Modi told reporters at Mumbai airport after landing from Dubai.
“I think all of you have the same question. On April 26 we have the governing council. We will meet there and discuss all these allegations that are coming out,” Modi told reporters on his arrival from Dubai where he had gone to attend the ICC’s executive board meeting.
Although there is intense speculation that Modi would step down after the IPL finals on Sunday, he did not talk on the subject at all.
“There is no point discussing it. BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Sharad Pawar had already met this morning. They are all united in the same area. Decision will be taken unanimously by the governing council,” he said.
“I will present all the facts against all the allegations. There is nothing to worry about and we will carry on,” the IPL chief added.
The stand against Modi in the BCCI has hardened over the last few days as the rapidly-developing events surrounding Kochi franchise’s stakeholding pattern has opened a Pandora’s box about alleged financial irregularities in the IPL.
Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams.
Modi triggered the entire controversy by tweeting the Kochi franchise’s stakeholding pattern, which also brought the cricket board under the Income Tax department’s scanner.
His tweets about Kochi’s shareholding created a political storm as it emerged that Minister of State for External Affair Shashi Tharoor’s close friend Sunanda Pushkar had a sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore.
Tharoor had to resign, while Pushkar also gave up her stake in Kochi franchise.
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