New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar insists that he never bid for the Pune IPL franchisee and the managing director of City Corporation, in which the NCP chief’s family has 16 per cent equity, did so in his personal capacity. But media reports and a statement by the Indian cricket board seem to contradict him.
The Times of India on Sunday reported that the board of directors of City Corporation had authorized their managing director Aniruddha Deshpande on January 31 to bid for the Pune IPL franchise on behalf of the company. The newspaper made the claim on the basis of excerpts of the minutes of the board meeting.
Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule, a Lok Sabha MP, claim that the City Corporation’s board had made it clear that the company would not be involved in bidding for team. The Pawars have cited a March 17 board resolution, which said that the company will not be involved in bidding, to support their claims.
Deshpande on Sunday admitted that the company's decided to bid for the Pune IPL team at the January 31 meeting but later backed out and passed a fresh resolution on March 17 allowing him to go ahead in his "individual capacity".
Deshpande denied that the March 17 board resolution had been fabricated to save the company and Pawar embarrassment. "Why would we do it? "If it was to be done in the company's name, it would have been done in the company's name. How can I fabricate a March 17 letter that I gave on March 21 to the IPL governing council in front of all the bidders?" he told NDTV news channel.
Deshpande said he had told the IPL that he would float a new company after winning the bid, which was eventually clinched by the Sahara Group.
"All the documents were in the company's name and a letter to that effect was also submitted to the IPL Governing Council on March 21 before the bid. I told them that the stakeholders will change if we are successful bidders," Deshpande said.
"Since we were not successful bidders, nothing further had to be done," he told NDTV.
BCCI chief Shashank Manohar on Saturday added a twist to the controversy when he replied to allegations made by suspended IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who claims that Deshpande bid for the Pune franchisee in his individual capacity and the Pawars were never involved.
Manohar said he BCCI governing council members had always believed, the bid was indeed made by City Corporation and not by an individual. Manohar asked why Modi hadn’t shared such important information with the governing council if he knew about Deshpande’s individual bid.
"Mr Modi has also made a statement that Mr Aniruddha Deshpande, MD City Corporation Ltd, had informed him that though the bid was submitted on behalf of City Corporation Ltd, it was in fact a personal bid on behalf of himself. Mr Modi , who claims to be above board in all matters, did not think this very cogent and important piece of information should be shared with Governing Council Members /Officials. His statement becomes even more questionable in the light of the fact that the bid document tendered on behalf of City Corporation Ltd gives information only regarding City Corporation Ltd and does not give any personal information about Mr Aniruddha Deshpande. The bid could have been rejected at the threshold if it had been from Mr Aniruddha Deshpande ,in his individual capacity, as it did not carry the necessary information about the bidder, ie. Mr Deshpande.
"Mr. Modi, who is himself in the dock, is trying to tarnish the image of the Board by making false and misleading statements time and again when as a fact the Board has landed in this embarrassing situation due to his own misdeeds,” said Manohar in his lengthy letter.
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