In a new twist to the controversy over Kochi team, its owner Rendezvous Sports on Wednesday alleged that Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi had offered a US$ 50 million bribe to withdraw from the race, prompting him to threaten legal action.
Adding a new twist to the Kochi IPL franchise drama, Union Minister for Agriculture and the BCCI president Sharad Pawar revealed on Thursday that members of the consortium that won the Kochi IPL franchise wanted to be based in Anmedabad.
The Kochi Tuskers Kerala (KTK) team is all set to play most of their Indian Premier League (IPL) matches of the fourth edition at their home venue, said the co-owners of the franchise.
Kerala Cricket Association secretary T C Mathew says the public spat between the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and Minister of State for External Affairs Sashi Tharoor is the result of forces trying to sabotage the Kochi IPL team.
According to one of the Kochi team co-owners, Modi had driven them to 'madness'.
Sachin Tendulkar has mesmerised millions of cricket fans during his 24-year-long illustrious international career and the Indian batting legend has now become the source of hope for some young sports enthusiasts, this time from football, in Kerala.
Relieved that the Kochi team has got the Board of Control for Cricket in India's nod to play in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League, Satyajit Singh Gaekwad on Sunday said the franchisee will get down to business to build the side for the Twenty20 event.
Rediff.com takes a look at some recent high-profile resignations by politicians who went blue in the face proclaiming their innocence.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded the sacking of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in the wake of controversy over Indian Premeir League's Kochi team ownership.
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly were among the host of high-profile winning bidders, as the organisers of the much-anticipated Indian Super League unveiled the eight franchises for the event in Mumbai on Sunday.
Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan has been signed by English county side Gloucestershire as their overseas player for two Friends Provident Twenty20 Cup seasons.
Kochi Tuskers Kerala came up with a fine all-round display to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by six runs in the Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday. Chasing a modest total of 133 for victory, the Kolkata side could only muster 126-9 in their 20 overs.
Ruling out the possibility of union ministers Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel resigning in the wake of the IPL controversy, the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday dismissed reports about the involvement of any of its leaders or their relatives in any financial wrongdoings in the cricket league. Party spokesman D P Tripathi saw nothing wrong in Civil Aviation Minister Patel's 'personal office' forwarding projections of new franchisee valuations to Tharoor.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Tuesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the wake of the controversy surrounding Minister of State Shashi Tharoor's role in the IPL's Kochi team. IPL commissioner Lalit Modi recently alleged that Tharoor had asked him not to disclose details about owners of the consortium led by Rendezvous that bought the new Kochi franchisee.Tharoor hit back at Modi by alleging that he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium.
At a time when cricket fans are praying for India to win the ongoing World Cup, IPL franchise owners are busy finalising plans to sell tickets for the season four of IPL that kicks off from April 8.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is likely to issue a fresh tender for a Kochi team, as the current franchisee has written to the board expressing its intention to withdraw from the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Unable to resolve their differences, the Kochi franchise have withdrawn from the Indian Premier League (IPL) barely two days before the expiry of their one-month deadline, paving the way for the Board of Control for Cricket in India to issue a new tender for a replacement team.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India says it was not aware of the Kochi consortium's 'links' with former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was a member of the Indian Premier League's Governing Council before being ousted a few weeks ago. However, Gavaskar's alleged involvement in the whole process may just include another item in the agenda of the IPL Governing Council when it meets on Thursday in Nagpur to decide the Kochi team's fate.
Shashi Tharoor on Friday rejected the Opposition's demands for his resignation as minister of state for external affairs by asserting that the allegations against him on the IPL issue were 'baseless, ill-founded and ill-motivated'. "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 said in a statement tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Embroiled in a major controversy over its stakeholders, the Kochi IPL franchisee on Thursday effected a change in its top management, appointing Dubai-based businessman Harshad Mehta as its Chairman.
Senior Congress leader Narhari Amin on Thursday alleged that it was at Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's behest that IPL commissioner Lalit Modi is trying to thwart the Kochi franchise.
The controversy surrounding the Indian Premier League's Kochi franchise took yet another political turn on Thursday as Lalit Modi was accused of working under the pressure of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to take away the bid to Ahmedabad.
Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor is hoping that the Kochi IPL team will be able to compete in the fourth edition, following the BCCI's decision to postpone a final decision on its fate to December 5.
Pune and Kochi are the two teams for the forthcoming editions of the Indian Premier League, commissioner Lalit Modi announced in Chennai, on Sunday. Sahara successfully won the Pune franchise after they bid the highest amount of US $370 million, while the Kochi team was won by a consortium Rendezvous Sports for a whopping amount of $333 million.
Shailendra Gaikwad, the sacked CEO of Rendezvous Consortium that won the IPL's Kochi franchise, on Wednesday said he had not invested in the venture and was connected with the team only on an administrative level.
There seems to be no respite from controversies for the Kochi IPL franchise. In fresh developments, it has been reported that Vipul Shah of Parani Developers and 2 others of the Kochi team were raided in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi has threatened to sue Rendezvous Sports. The action comes after Rendevous alleged that Modi had bribed them to withdraw from the race.
With the public showdown between Lalit Modi and minister Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi franchise snowballing into a major controversy, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to convene a meeting of the IPL Governing Council within 10 days to discuss and take a decision on the episode.
The Indian Premier League's new franchise Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) has threatened to sue IPL commissioner Lalit Modi for breaking the confidentiality terms.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and former Minister of State Shashi Tharoor were seen having a long chat in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, after a newspaper reported their alleged link in the Indian Premier League bids for the Kochi team.
Caught in a storm over his role in Kochi IPL franchise, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor dug his heels saying he would not not quit office even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he would take action in the matter if warranted. Allegations flew thick and fast during another day of high drama which included a claim by Tharoor's personal staff that he had received a threatening call from Dawood Ibrahim gang asking him to drop out of Kochi team.
The cricket icon is a co-owner of the Chennai franchise, one of the new teams added to the sport league
Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi's lawyer Mehmood Abdi said that his client stands vindicated on the controversy surrounding the erstwhile Kochi franchise following outbursts by Shahshi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar who died recently.
The Indian cricket legend said though he grew up playing cricket, not many know that he enjoys other sports as well.
A special investigation team of the Delhi police on Friday questioned senior journalist Nalini Singh in connection with the murder case of former union minister Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar.
Despite all the controversies, the IPL's brand value hasn't diminished. Instead, says Harish Kotian/Rediff.com, the IPL made the BCCI richer by over Rs 3 billion!
Prakash Bhandari chalks the journey of Lalit Modi from his troubled adolescent days to his mid-life crisis, from his grand success at the India Premier League to his dramatic exit from it
On Monday, soon after the election results were out, Ambassador T P Sreenivasan contributed a column to Rediff.com, 'Lessons for Shashi Tharoor from diminished victory', to which the newly re-elected MP from Thiruvananthapuram responds.
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