<p>A furious Modi termed the allegation “rubbish” and called the Kochi team owners “mad”. “Who will offer them this kind of amount,” Modi asked, reacting to the latest salvo from the Kochi franchise. Asked when he would initiate legal action, Modi said: “I am awaiting the clippings (in which Gaikwad reportedly made the charge). Once I have that, I will serve them legal notice... possibly tomorrow.”<br /><br />Gaikwad was quoted as saying that the consortium “went through the process in the right manner and won the bid. But within 10 days of winning the bid, Modi offered us US $50 million to give away the rights of the IPL franchise.”<br />Gaikwad said the franchise was being targeted because it outbid some big business houses whom Modi wanted to rope in for the subsequent editions of the IPL. Modi, on the other hand, wondered as to “why I will offer them the money... the bid had gone for a good sum,” and dared Gaikwad to prove the charge. “Today, they are saying US$50 million. Tomorrow they may say some different figures,” he said adding that every communication and conversation, including that of Shashi Tharoor, wherein he asked Modi not to identify the owners, was minuted in the IPL meeting.<br /><br />Ownership details<br />Defying the BCCI diktat not to discuss the Kochi IPL team’s ownership in public, Modi on Wednesday threw an open challenge to the team owners to come out clean and said he would soon reveal details of ownerships of the original eight IPL franchises.<br />“There are still question marks over the ownership of the Kochi franchise and even some of the stakeholders were not clear about it when they bid for the team,” Modi told a news conference here. The IPL would “deal with it,” he added.<br /><br />“In regards to all eight franchises, we all know who they (the owners) are, everybody knows who they are. They attend our conferences, they attend our meeting but with regard to Kochi we had some question marks as to who they are. In fact, the people who presented the bid documents themselves did not know who they (the owners) were; that is why this issue has come up,” Modi said.<br />The IPL commissioner said he would call a meeting of the IPL governing council after April 25.</p>
<p>A furious Modi termed the allegation “rubbish” and called the Kochi team owners “mad”. “Who will offer them this kind of amount,” Modi asked, reacting to the latest salvo from the Kochi franchise. Asked when he would initiate legal action, Modi said: “I am awaiting the clippings (in which Gaikwad reportedly made the charge). Once I have that, I will serve them legal notice... possibly tomorrow.”<br /><br />Gaikwad was quoted as saying that the consortium “went through the process in the right manner and won the bid. But within 10 days of winning the bid, Modi offered us US $50 million to give away the rights of the IPL franchise.”<br />Gaikwad said the franchise was being targeted because it outbid some big business houses whom Modi wanted to rope in for the subsequent editions of the IPL. Modi, on the other hand, wondered as to “why I will offer them the money... the bid had gone for a good sum,” and dared Gaikwad to prove the charge. “Today, they are saying US$50 million. Tomorrow they may say some different figures,” he said adding that every communication and conversation, including that of Shashi Tharoor, wherein he asked Modi not to identify the owners, was minuted in the IPL meeting.<br /><br />Ownership details<br />Defying the BCCI diktat not to discuss the Kochi IPL team’s ownership in public, Modi on Wednesday threw an open challenge to the team owners to come out clean and said he would soon reveal details of ownerships of the original eight IPL franchises.<br />“There are still question marks over the ownership of the Kochi franchise and even some of the stakeholders were not clear about it when they bid for the team,” Modi told a news conference here. The IPL would “deal with it,” he added.<br /><br />“In regards to all eight franchises, we all know who they (the owners) are, everybody knows who they are. They attend our conferences, they attend our meeting but with regard to Kochi we had some question marks as to who they are. In fact, the people who presented the bid documents themselves did not know who they (the owners) were; that is why this issue has come up,” Modi said.<br />The IPL commissioner said he would call a meeting of the IPL governing council after April 25.</p>
