IPL-THAROOR 2LST

Tharoor said he was issuing the statement in a personal
capacity to respond to the allegations made against him
personally.
He said Rendezvous bid successfully in an open and
transparent process. "Their unexpected success upset the
plans of a lot of powerful people, who had wanted the
franchise to go elsewhere," he added.
"Mr Modi raised assorted objections to the bid documents
but finally had no choice but to approve them," he said.
Tharoor alleged that Modi's extraordinary breach of all
propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the
composition of the consortium and himself personally is
clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons
to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded
elsewhere.
The minister also emphatically said he did not intend to
benefit in any way financially from his association with the
Kochi team now or at a later stage.
"My role in mentoring the consortium included several
conversations with Mr Lalit Modi, who guided us through the
process and presented himself as a trusted friend," he said.
A consortium led by Rendezvous was set up to bid for an
IPL team, he said, adding, they approached him for help and
guidance. "I steered them towards Kerala".
Tharoor said contemptible efforts have been made to drag
in matters of personal life which "I do not intend to dignify
by commenting on them."
The minister said he called Modi to ask why he was
further delaying the approval of the franchise when all the
legal requirements had been fulfilled.
"Mr Modi had held up approval by the IPL of the
franchisee agreement earlier in the day, by insisting on
the reversal of a change in the document that he himself had
earlier suggested.
This change was made, the consortium members flew to
Bangalore and met with Mr Modi after that night's IPL game for
what they had been told would be a routine exercise.
Instead they were submitted to a barrage of questions
which led some to suspect that Mr Modi was seeking a further
excuse to delay approval. This was the reason for my
intervention with Mr Modi. Had he conducted himself in good
faith throughout, no call would have been necessary."
On the question of his interests in the franchise,
Tharoor said he was proud to have helped the consortium come
to Kerala.
"I have neither invested nor received a rupee for my
mentorship of the team. Whatever my personal relationships
with any of the consortium members," he added.
The "unethical" efforts that have been made by Modi and
others to thwart the Kerala franchise which had been won fair
and square in a transparent bidding process are disgraceful,
he said.
"It has been clear for some time that the real motive is
to assign this IPL team elsewhere than Kerala. All of us in
Kerala hope that the BCCI will not permit statements and
activities which seek to discredit the Kerala team before it
has even had a chance to prove its worth. The public attempts
by Mr Modi to besmirch the consortium in fact bring the IPL
itself into disrepute," he said. PTI