Lalit Modi, chairman and commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), will attend Monday's Governing Council (GC) meeting with a single-point agenda of hearing charges against him and any other GC member, Modi's office said on Sunday afternoon.
"I will attend and chair the meeting of the Governing Council as chairman and commissioner. I have issued the agenda to the Governing Council," Modi tweeted.
Modi's tweet has put an end to the intense speculation on whether he would attend the meeting which is expected to press for his ouster.
Modi, who has been in the eye of a storm for alleged financial irregularities, had yesterday refused to resign and had even threatened to expose some people who tried to bring the game into disrepute.
The BCCI, on its part, had tried to persuade Modi to step down voluntarily but without success. Modi's presence would mean that he would chair the meeting by virtue of being the Commissioner and Chairman.
The BCCI top brass, which has drawn up a strategy to oust him after a series of meetings in the last two days, may have to now redraw its strategy in the wake of the new development.
Assuming that Modi would not attend the meeting, the BCCI had on Sunday sent a release which stated that the Governing Council meeting would start at 10 am and the press conference would be held at 12 pm.
Showing posts with label Shashi Tharoor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shashi Tharoor. Show all posts
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
I don't want to be an embarrassment: Tharoor
The former Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, on Tuesday said his decision to quit the Cabinet was “in the high moral traditions of our democratic system and in keeping with the standards” all would wish to uphold in the nation's public life.
“Today marks a new beginning for me,” he added.
The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram — who resigned on Sunday night following the Indian Premier League Kochi franchise controversy — told the Lok Sabha that he had “no desire to be an embarrassment” to the government, and believed that his departure at this stage would allow Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues to focus on the great challenges facing the nation.
Mr. Tharoor said he was deeply wounded by the “fanciful and malicious charges” against him and had requested Dr. Singh to thoroughly probe them.
“I have led an unblemished life of personal integrity and probity, and it is important to me that my name is cleared,” he said.
Reiterating that his “conscience is clear,” Mr. Tharoor said he had “done nothing improper or unethical, let alone illegal.”
The former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, who kept getting caught in one controversy or the other since the UPA-II government assumed office last year, said he was new to Indian politics but had a long record of public service, “unblemished by the slightest taint of financial irregularity.”
He said that after his long stint abroad, he returned to India because he believed in “an India of honesty and hard work, not of corruption and malfeasance…an India of openness and straightforwardness, not of hypocrisy and double-dealing.”
Some Opposition members booed him and made sarcastic remarks when Speaker Meira Kumar called Mr. Tharoor to make a statement under rule 199 to explain his reasons for quitting, but began listening to him along with the Treasury benches when he started reading.
Notably, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were absent in the House.
Clad in a white kurta-dhoti with a Congress brand angavasthram around his neck, Mr. Tharoor quoted Malayalam poet Vallathol: “When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride; when you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins.” Mr. Tharoor said: “My heart swells with pride for India, and Keralite blood throbs in my veins.”
He said Kerala was a trailblazer for India's progress. “Its ethos, with cultural unity amidst religious diversity, high educational standards and respect for democracy, commitment to the empowerment of women and the well-being of the poor, embody the best of India.”
Mr. Tharoor paid rich encomiums to Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi, saying that they were “two of the finest public servants our country has ever had,” and that “the country is in good hands.”
“Today marks a new beginning for me,” he added.
The Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram — who resigned on Sunday night following the Indian Premier League Kochi franchise controversy — told the Lok Sabha that he had “no desire to be an embarrassment” to the government, and believed that his departure at this stage would allow Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet colleagues to focus on the great challenges facing the nation.
Mr. Tharoor said he was deeply wounded by the “fanciful and malicious charges” against him and had requested Dr. Singh to thoroughly probe them.
“I have led an unblemished life of personal integrity and probity, and it is important to me that my name is cleared,” he said.
Reiterating that his “conscience is clear,” Mr. Tharoor said he had “done nothing improper or unethical, let alone illegal.”
The former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, who kept getting caught in one controversy or the other since the UPA-II government assumed office last year, said he was new to Indian politics but had a long record of public service, “unblemished by the slightest taint of financial irregularity.”
He said that after his long stint abroad, he returned to India because he believed in “an India of honesty and hard work, not of corruption and malfeasance…an India of openness and straightforwardness, not of hypocrisy and double-dealing.”
Some Opposition members booed him and made sarcastic remarks when Speaker Meira Kumar called Mr. Tharoor to make a statement under rule 199 to explain his reasons for quitting, but began listening to him along with the Treasury benches when he started reading.
Notably, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were absent in the House.
Clad in a white kurta-dhoti with a Congress brand angavasthram around his neck, Mr. Tharoor quoted Malayalam poet Vallathol: “When you hear the name of India, your heart must swell with pride; when you hear the name of Kerala, the blood must throb in your veins.” Mr. Tharoor said: “My heart swells with pride for India, and Keralite blood throbs in my veins.”
He said Kerala was a trailblazer for India's progress. “Its ethos, with cultural unity amidst religious diversity, high educational standards and respect for democracy, commitment to the empowerment of women and the well-being of the poor, embody the best of India.”
Mr. Tharoor paid rich encomiums to Dr. Singh and Ms. Gandhi, saying that they were “two of the finest public servants our country has ever had,” and that “the country is in good hands.”
Monday, April 19, 2010
Tharoor quits after Manmohan asks him to step down
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, who was under a cloud for his alleged involvement in the Kochi IPL cricket franchise bid, resigned late on Sunday night.
Amid mounting political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned the first-time Minister to his residence after a meeting of the Congress Core Group, and asked him to step down.
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 Core Group that met for over two hours discussed the floor strategy in Parliament. The government faces Opposition-moved cut motions on the Finance Bill against increase in prices of petroleum products announced in the budget and against the price rise of essential commodities.
He drove in his private car into the 7 Race Course residence of the Prime Minister at 9.45 p.m., minutes after the Core Group meeting ended. He left 25 minutes later without speaking to the media.
With the issue threatening to snowball into a major embarrassment for the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government, the Prime Minister, who returned from a foreign tour on Saturday, decided to take a call but not before giving a hearing to Mr. Tharoor. The beleaguered Minister met Dr. Singh in the afternoon for over 45 minutes and explained his role in the row.
On a day of fast moving developments, Mr. Tharoor's Dubai-based executive friend, Sunanda Pushkar, “voluntarily'' offered to surrender her sweat equity worth Rs. 70 crore in the Kochi IPL consortium, prompting the BJP to slam the move as “admission of guilt.''
PTI adds
President accepts Tharoor’s resignation
President Pratibha Patil accepted the resignation of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor from the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
According to Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, “The President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of Shashi Tharoor, MoS in MEA from the council of ministers with immediate effect.”
The resignation of Mr. Tharoor was sent to the President in Pune where she is on an official visit.
Amid mounting political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned the first-time Minister to his residence after a meeting of the Congress Core Group, and asked him to step down.
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 Core Group that met for over two hours discussed the floor strategy in Parliament. The government faces Opposition-moved cut motions on the Finance Bill against increase in prices of petroleum products announced in the budget and against the price rise of essential commodities.
He drove in his private car into the 7 Race Course residence of the Prime Minister at 9.45 p.m., minutes after the Core Group meeting ended. He left 25 minutes later without speaking to the media.
With the issue threatening to snowball into a major embarrassment for the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance government, the Prime Minister, who returned from a foreign tour on Saturday, decided to take a call but not before giving a hearing to Mr. Tharoor. The beleaguered Minister met Dr. Singh in the afternoon for over 45 minutes and explained his role in the row.
On a day of fast moving developments, Mr. Tharoor's Dubai-based executive friend, Sunanda Pushkar, “voluntarily'' offered to surrender her sweat equity worth Rs. 70 crore in the Kochi IPL consortium, prompting the BJP to slam the move as “admission of guilt.''
PTI adds
President accepts Tharoor’s resignation
President Pratibha Patil accepted the resignation of Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor from the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
According to Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson, “The President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister has accepted the resignation of Shashi Tharoor, MoS in MEA from the council of ministers with immediate effect.”
The resignation of Mr. Tharoor was sent to the President in Pune where she is on an official visit.
Friday, April 16, 2010
I-T officials raid IPL office, grill Modi
Indian Premier League commissioner Mr Lalit Modi was quizzed by a team of Income Tax officials, who were seeking details of the funds raised by different franchisees of the IPL on Thursday.
With this latest development, which is seen as a fall-out of the battle between Mr Modi and the minister of state for external affairs, Mr Shashi Tharoor, the mentor of the Kochi franchise, sources said the BCCI has decided to clip Mr Modi’s wings and appoint BCCI president as the co-chairman of the IPL.
Earlier during the day, a team of I-T officials had “visited” four offices of the Indian Premiere League at different places in Mumbai including its headquarters at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s office.
I-T officials were quick to dismiss these “visits” as raids and said that they were just “collecting and checking” documents from the IPL, to check the records of the franchises and the organisation itself. However, the fact that the I-T officials also took their own forensics team to check the documents, indicated that the I-T department meant business. The forensic team was taken to check whether any of the documents were fudged or if the accounts genuine.
While one of the offices was the BCCI headquarters, Mr Modi’s office at Four Seasons Hotel and another unidentified place in Bandra and Mahalaxmi were among other places visited by I-T officials.
The “visits” were conducted under Section 131 of the I-T Act. At the time of going to press, one of the I-T teams was still questioning Mr Modi in his office. Sources in the I-T department said that Thursday’s events were just a precursor and the documents would be studied and passed on to the relevant departments.
“The Enforcement Directorate and Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) will also be involved if it is suspected that money invested here was done through fraudulent means like money laundering, hawala transactions or simply converting black money into white.”
Senior I-T officials refused to comment on the developments or whether the “visits” and “inquiries” had anything to do with the full-blown fight between Mr Modi and Mr Tharoor.
In a related development, a senior NCP leader, on condition of anonymity, dismissed the speculation that the NCP chief, Mr Sharad Pawar, has anything to do with the issue. He alleged that “Tharoor’s aides” are resorting to such things because they want to score some brownie points within the Congress by speaking against the NCP and Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi.
He said who met whom and others are not core issues. “The core issue is — for what reason was the sweat equity allotted to Sunanda Pushkar and others? There are others also whose names have come to the fore. For what they are getting it?” he said.
The IPL Kochi franchise spokesperson, Mr Satyajit Gaekwad, said “We were told that we won’t be allowed to work. The Adani Group and Mr Narendra Modi had a stake in the Ahmedabad IPL bid. After we won the bid, our investors spoke to Mr Pawar and asked him which city to choose. He said, ‘You can take your pick’ so we decided to take Kochi.”
With this latest development, which is seen as a fall-out of the battle between Mr Modi and the minister of state for external affairs, Mr Shashi Tharoor, the mentor of the Kochi franchise, sources said the BCCI has decided to clip Mr Modi’s wings and appoint BCCI president as the co-chairman of the IPL.
Earlier during the day, a team of I-T officials had “visited” four offices of the Indian Premiere League at different places in Mumbai including its headquarters at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s office.
I-T officials were quick to dismiss these “visits” as raids and said that they were just “collecting and checking” documents from the IPL, to check the records of the franchises and the organisation itself. However, the fact that the I-T officials also took their own forensics team to check the documents, indicated that the I-T department meant business. The forensic team was taken to check whether any of the documents were fudged or if the accounts genuine.
While one of the offices was the BCCI headquarters, Mr Modi’s office at Four Seasons Hotel and another unidentified place in Bandra and Mahalaxmi were among other places visited by I-T officials.
The “visits” were conducted under Section 131 of the I-T Act. At the time of going to press, one of the I-T teams was still questioning Mr Modi in his office. Sources in the I-T department said that Thursday’s events were just a precursor and the documents would be studied and passed on to the relevant departments.
“The Enforcement Directorate and Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) will also be involved if it is suspected that money invested here was done through fraudulent means like money laundering, hawala transactions or simply converting black money into white.”
Senior I-T officials refused to comment on the developments or whether the “visits” and “inquiries” had anything to do with the full-blown fight between Mr Modi and Mr Tharoor.
In a related development, a senior NCP leader, on condition of anonymity, dismissed the speculation that the NCP chief, Mr Sharad Pawar, has anything to do with the issue. He alleged that “Tharoor’s aides” are resorting to such things because they want to score some brownie points within the Congress by speaking against the NCP and Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi.
He said who met whom and others are not core issues. “The core issue is — for what reason was the sweat equity allotted to Sunanda Pushkar and others? There are others also whose names have come to the fore. For what they are getting it?” he said.
The IPL Kochi franchise spokesperson, Mr Satyajit Gaekwad, said “We were told that we won’t be allowed to work. The Adani Group and Mr Narendra Modi had a stake in the Ahmedabad IPL bid. After we won the bid, our investors spoke to Mr Pawar and asked him which city to choose. He said, ‘You can take your pick’ so we decided to take Kochi.”
Monday, March 1, 2010
BJP slams Tharoor for ‘irresponsible’ remarks
Slamming Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor for his remark that Saudi Arabia could act as an interlocutor between India and Pakistan, the BJP on Monday demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put an end to his “irresponsible” statements.
“Shashi Tharoor must now stop irresponsibly tweeting always. He is an MoS and he cannot be so casual. It is directly the PM’s responsibility. We denounce his comments,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
“The nation does not agree with this. The policy of the country does not allow this third party mediation. So, this is utterly irresponsible behaviour, unbecoming of a minister. PM must act now,” said Mr. Javadekar.
Mr. Tharoor, who is accompanying the Prime Minister during his three-day visit to the oil-rich kingdom, on Sunday said that Saudi Arabia can be a “valuable interlocutor” between India and Pakistan. However, he quickly clarified that he did not mean that Saudi Arabia should be a mediator.
“Shashi Tharoor must now stop irresponsibly tweeting always. He is an MoS and he cannot be so casual. It is directly the PM’s responsibility. We denounce his comments,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters here.
“The nation does not agree with this. The policy of the country does not allow this third party mediation. So, this is utterly irresponsible behaviour, unbecoming of a minister. PM must act now,” said Mr. Javadekar.
Mr. Tharoor, who is accompanying the Prime Minister during his three-day visit to the oil-rich kingdom, on Sunday said that Saudi Arabia can be a “valuable interlocutor” between India and Pakistan. However, he quickly clarified that he did not mean that Saudi Arabia should be a mediator.
