NCP gets caught in IPL firestorm

Reacting to this, NCP MP and Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule said: “My father-in-law was chairman of Sony since 1992. The whole world knows it.

He is 84-years-old and has been unwell for a long time and that is why he (husband) got it but only as a proxy. Nothing else.” On the $80 million facilitation fee allegedly given to sports management company World Sports Group (WSG) for securing television rights from IPL, Sule said: “Nothing. No. Nothing. I cross my heart and say this.”

Political observers here hinted that  opposition parties, who have already tasted victory with Tharoor’s sacking, may now raise the demand for the resignation of Patel from the Cabinet for alleged misuse of office.

However, ruling coalition sources indicated that even if pressure mounts, it would not be easy for the government to obtain Patel’s resignation since he belonged to the NCP.

Ruling out such a possibility, the NCP also denied any rift in the ruling combine and rejected accusations that its leaders had any role in the alleged financial irregularities of the IPL.

“NCP leaders have nothing to do with the IPL controversy. There is no proof of that,” party general secretary D P Tripathi told reporters here.

“There is no issue with the Congress...There is no tension between the Congress and the NCP”.