BCCI draws exit plan for Modi

A cornered IPL chairman and commissioner, certain that he would be shown the door at the GC meeting, refused to attend the meeting saying it was ‘unauthorised’. He, however, stressed that he would convene the meeting on May 1.

Following the likely ouster of Modi, the BCCI may appoint its president Shashank Manohar as the chairman of IPL and either Arun Jaitley, MP and Delhi cricket president or Rajiv Shukla, MP and BCCI senior official, as IPL commissioner. A team of two to eight management professionals will be appointed to help Manohar run the IPL. Jaitely, a noted senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, is likely to be asked to hold internal inquiry into the irregularities. GC will go ahead with its meeting even if Modi does not turn up.

That the government was concerned at the highest level was apparent when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the IPL row with senior BCCI official Rajiv Shukla on Wednesday. Although he refused to disclose what transpired with the PM, Shukla remarked that “if the situation demands, tough decisions will be taken” implying that Modi was on his way out.

He added: “The question of people refusing to back down or not does not matter. After the meeting between Shashank Manohar and his predecessor Sharad Pawar [on Tuesday], it was decided that in the GC meeting, we will sit together and unanimously decide what to do,” Shukla said. “No matter how harsh they might seem, decisions would be taken to protect the BCCI and cricket’s image in the country. We have never compromised on our image in the past 60 years and there would be no compromise this time too”.

Modi, meanwhile, shot an e-mail to Manohar about the April 26 meeting in which he said: “...I just returned from Dubai last night and was attending the ICC meeting which you (Manohar) asked me to attend on your behalf...We had to move the matches from Bangalore and also we have the playoffs and awards. We are working 24x7 and as such have had no time to prepare or will have time to do so till post 26th”.

Sources said Modi sought the postponement as both the GC and the BCCI working committee, which will meet on May 2, is ranged against him. While the GC will prepare the ground for his ouster with passing of a resolution, committee will ratify the resolution.
According to reports from different cities, the IPL franchisees, who seemed to be with Modi, appeared to be deserting him. On Tuesday, three franchise owners – Vijay Mallya, Shilpa Shetty and Subroto Roy – had supported Modi. Union minister and former BCCI president Sharad Pawar, who was earlier seen as a supporter of Modi, reportedly informed him that he (Modi) had to go after a meeting with his ministerial colleagues Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram. Pawar was told by his colleagues that there was no way out other than asking Modi to quit.

According to an earlier mail to Manohar, Modi offered to make public the ownership structure of all 10 IPL teams. However, Manohar rejected it saying the issue was complex and needed detailed deliberations.