New Delhi, April 13: Reacting sharply to the BJP demand that Union Minister Shashi Tharoor be sacked over the IPL controversy, Congress today said that it was up to the cricket board to decide on allegations of impropriety over his role in the Kochi IPL team.
Congress sources however said there was some unease in the party over the Minister of State For External Affairs landing himself in another controversy that could embarass it.
Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said Tharoor’s role in having a IPL team from Kochi was not an “embarrassment” and his desire to have such a team for his state was not “unwarranted”.
“Not an embarrassment…..As an elected member from Kerala, his (Tharoor) desire to have team from there is not illogical or unwarranted,” said Ahmed when asked if the minister’s involvement has been an embarrassment to the Congress.
Observing that Kerala was the only Southern State not having a IPL team, he said all other Southern states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have such teams.
“The demand of the BJP is absurd….We appreciate the concern of Tharoor to have a team of IPL from Kerala, there is nothing wrong in it,” Ahmed said. The BJP had also demanded a CBI inquiry into Tharoor’s alleged “misuse” of authority for “securing” the investment of his friend Sunanda Pushkar in the Kochi IPL team.
The Spokesman said as far as financial issues were concerned it was up to the cricket administration to comment upon. “We are not concerned with the financial aspect of the issue. Tharoor himself has denied any involvement financially with the team. These are the issues which the administration of the cricket body should comment upon.”
On the allegations that Tharoor called IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi not to reveal details of the owners of the consortium that won the franchise for IPL Kochi, Ahmed said as public representatives, ministers call several people it should not be taken as otherwise. Earlier in the day, BJP general secretary Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that the minister had abused authority on the issue and should be expelled from his post.
Citing the row as a ‘copybook’ case of corruption, Prasad told a press conference that the minister’s links with Sunanda Pushkar, one of the co-owners of the IPL Kochi franchisee, were in the public domain and his conduct was highly debatable.
“We’re interested in the conduct of a minister, have no interest in his private life,” Prasad told reporters. He added, “CBI investigation is warranted in the case and Congress must explain Tharoor’s role (in the IPL controversy).”
-Agencies