Rajiv Shukla briefs PM on IPL controversy

Published>Wed, Apr 21 10 02:17 PM

New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Congress MP Rajiv Shukla, also a senior Indian cricket board official, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday over alleged financial irregularities in the Indian Premier League (IPL), government sources said.

Shukla, who is in the IPL governing council and is the media and finance committee chairman of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), briefed the prime minister about the controversy surrounding the cash-rich Twenty20 domestic cricket tournament, the sources said.

'We won't hesitate to take any action against anybody, anytime to protect the image of cricket and the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India),' Shukla told reporters later.

This was his second meeting with the prime minister since Monday over the issue. The meeting came close on the heels of the opposition demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the money laundering and gambling allegations in the IPL.

With the opposition calling for a probe into the IPL funding sources and transactions, the row has put a question mark on Lalit Modi's continuance as IPL chairman after Shashi Tharoor was forced to resign as the minister of state for external affairs.

Tharoor was accused of misusing his position to procure a Rs.70 crore sweat equity in the Kochi IPL team for his friend Dubai-based Sunanda Pushkar.

Modi has refused to step down and has denied any financial irregularity in the IPL.

Shukla said the board won't hesitate to take a tough decision if situation demands. He said any decision would be taken at the IPL governing council meeting April 26, a day after the third season of the cricket tournament concludes.

'The question of people refusing to back down or not, it doesn't matter. After the meeting between BCCI president Shashank Manohar and Sharad Pawar yesterday (Tuesday), it has been decided that in the April 26 governing council meeting, we will sit together and unanimously decide what to do,' Shukla told reporters outside parliament.

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