Political Bog: Sid Harth

Political Bog: Sid Harth

End of an innings for Tharoor
BS Reporter / New Delhi April 19, 2010, 0:46 IST

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor’s 11-month innings in the government came to an end on Sunday.

Tharoor handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh late in the night after the core committee of the Congress party found his continuance in the council of ministers “untenable” in the backdrop of the IPL controversy.

His resignation was accepted and is likely to be sent to the President on Monday.
According to top sources in the Congress, the members of the core committee did not have any difference of opinion on this matter and felt that Tharoor should step down.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony and political secretary to the Congress president Ahmed Patel had already asked Tharoor to resign.

Members of the core committee felt that it would not be possible to defend Tharoor in the parliament.

Party floor managers pointed out that the government has a lot of business to conduct in the house, including getting the Finance Bill passed, in the current Budget session and would not like to give the opposition a chance to disrupt the proceedings.

In the afternoon, Tharoor drove in his official car to the Prime Minister’s residence. But when he went to see him again late at night, he chose to travel in his personal car.

Sources said the Prime Minister spoke to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over the phone before accepting Tharoor’s resignation. No one will replace him in the ministry for now, they added.

Tharoor, who was chosen by Sonia Gandhi to represent the Congress party from the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, had been a newsmaker since his inception into the council of ministers.

His stay in five star hotels and the controversies kicked by his constant twitter comments had been resolved at the party level. But luck did not favour Tharoor when his name came up in the IPL fiasco. Tharoor is alleged to have used his office to secure free equity in Kochi franchisee for his close associate Sunanda Pushkar.
He has, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Sunday also did not bring any good news for Sunanda. Earlier in the day, she quit Rendezvous Sports World, a stakeholder in IPL Kochi, and decided to return her free equity worth Rs 70 crore to the franchise. The move was seen as a last ditch attempt to save Tharoor.

But by late night it was evident that it did not work out as Tharoor and Pushkar had planned or hoped for.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/endan-innings-for-tharoor/392342/

Sunanda surrenders sweat equity in Kochi IPL team
Press Trust of India / New Delhi April 18, 2010, 17:24 IST

Sunanda Pushkar today quit Rendezvous Sports World which is a stakeholder in IPL Kochi after she decided to return her free equity worth Rs 70 crore to the franchise in a last ditch attempt to save her friend, Union Minister Shashi Tharoor.

The 48-year-old business executive, based in Dubai, decided to disassociate from the franchise in the wake of allegations that Tharoor had misused his office to secure the bonanza for Sunanda.

Rendezvous is understood to have accepted her resignation.

Sunanda's decision to quit came after her dramatic announcement that she was voluntarily surrendering her equity to IPL Kochi.

This came shortly after Tharoor had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and explained his controversial role in "mentoring" the Kochi franchise.

In a statement from Dubai, Sunanda said she was shocked to find "certain vested interests" questioning her credentials and because of the "unpleasant publicity" she was opting out.

Sunanda said, "As a woman professional, I am shocked to find how easily certain parties with vested interests, questioned my credentials mainly because I am a woman. I, therefore, voluntarily offer to return to Rendezvous the sweat equity they had offered me.

"I do not intend to seek compensation for the efforts I have made so far for them. As a mother of a half-Malayali son, I wish Kerala cricket well and I hope this team succeeds handsomely in IPL-4 and in the years to come," she said.

The statement, read out to media by her lawyer Ashish Mehta, said she had been looking forward to "contributing over the next 10 years to building the team's brand, organising events for it and marketing the team in India and the Gulf in particular".

"Given the deeply unpleasant publicity surrounding my involvement however, I can no longer imagine being able to find the enthusiasm required to associate myself with any IPL activity in foreseeable future."

The move comes at a time when Tharoor is facing a tough time with opposition demanding his sacking from the government.

Tharoor has denied the charge that he had any financial stake in the Kochi IPL which had given 19 per cent (Rs 70 crore) of the 25 per cent free equity of Rendezvous to Sunanda as she was a professional businesswoman.

Sunanda also said she is a professional of 20 years of "well-earned successful experience" and that she was "deeply distressed over the wild and malicious reporting of recent days" surrounding her role in Rendezvous.

Mehta said Sunanda's decision had nothing to do with Tharoor, the Minister of State for External Affairs.

The new Chairman of the Kochi IPL team Harshad Mehta is in touch with the IPL officials regarding the matter.

Interestingly, senior Union Minister Sharad Pawar, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi and I S Bindra are in Dubai currently to attend an ICC meeting.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sunanda-surrenders-sweat-equity-in-kochi-ipl-team/00/49/91598/on

BCCI keeps Modi out of meet on Kochi franchise row
Press Trust of India / New Delhi April 17, 2010, 12:56 IST

IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi's powers are set to be curtailed considerably as the move to clip his wings gained momentum at an informal BCCI meeting in Dharamshala where the Board's top brass discussed the Kochi franchise ownership row.

After Modi's public spat with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on the matter turned into a political storm and an income tax nightmare for the IPL, the Board officials held an informal conclave in the picturesque hill-town of Dharamshala.

It assumes importance as it was the first meeting among the BCCI bigwigs after Modi's tweets on the identity of Kochi stakeholders triggered off the furore.

Significantly Modi, who wields considerable power as the Indian Premier League chairman and commissioner, was kept out of the deliberation where the key members of the Governing Council generally assessed the fallout of the controversy and the Income Tax raids at IPL offices.

Keeping Modi out of the meeting is being seen as a snub to the high-flying IPL Commissioner. Many of the IPL Governing Council members were unanimous in the view that Modi should be downsized while some of his known detractors in the Board even pressed for his removal as Commissioner.

"It was an informal meeting where the governing council members discussed the issue. We are trying to get the views of as many members as possible. No decision has been taken yet and we will continue to have meetings," a BCCI source told PTI.

For the record, BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla said that there was no meeting that took place.

"There was no meeting, we had just gone to watch the match. A formal meeting of the governing council will be held after the IPL," Shukla told reporters on his arrival from Dharamshala.

The source indicated that Modi's powers as commissioner would be most probably curbed when the IPL governing council meets immediately after the third edition of the event ends on April 25.

Modi's detractors in the BCCI are pressing for his head as they feel he has brought the IPL under media glare for all the wrong reasons but as of now, it appears that he would continue in the post till his term ends in 2012.

"As of now it seems he will remain in the post but definitely his powers would be curbed and he will not be allowed to take decisions unilaterally," the source said.

Although it was not a scheduled meeting, the members who had gathered in Dharamshala for the inauguration of an academy and to watch the Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab match took the opportunity to take stock of the current developments and prepare the groundwork for the governing council meeting.

The furore started when Modi revealed the identities of the stakeholders of the Kochi team. The shareholders in the team include Dubai-based businesswoman Sunanda Pushkar, who is a close friend of Tharoor.

Modi alleged that Tharoor tried to pressurise him into not revealing the stakeholders' identity, especially Sunanda. Tharoor denied the allegations and accused Modi of trying to scuttle Kochi's bid.

An ugly war of words ensued and while Tharoor is now under intense pressure to resign, Modi has also landed in a soup as details have also emerged of his relatives' stakes in Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab.

The issue is also finding resonance in the BCCI's power corridors where officials are towing the line of their respective parties -- BJP and Congress.

That Modi is losing support among the council members is apparent with the comments that have come from a couple of them in the last few days.

Union Minister for New And Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah went on record in saying that he was not in favour of removing Modi but certainly wanted his powers to be curbed.

Finance and Media Committee chairman and Congress MP Rajiv Shukla had only yesterday stated that there was no reason to disbelieve Tharoor, a statement which can be interpreted as going against Modi.
Although there appears to be a divide on how far to go on downsizing Modi, much would depend on President Shashank Manohar.

Manohar is seen as a low-profile and image-conscious administrator and the recent developments and the strongly-worded letter he wrote to Modi following his twitter disclosures indicates his mood.

A close aide of Manohar acknowledged that the BCCI President is extremely upset with all the negative publicity that the controversy has attracted and is keen to "systematically downsize Modi."

"Knowing him, he will certainly downsize Modi but may not take the drastic step to remove him as IPL commissioner right now as it could lead to more problems," Manohar's confidante said.

As part of the downsizing exercise, Modi would be asked to take the Governing Council into confidence before making any important statement.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bcci-keeps-modi-outmeetkochi-franchise-row/20/46/91551/on

I-T probing woman who left Modi's room before visit
Press Trust of India / Mumbai April 17, 2010, 15:21 IST

Income tax officials, inspecting documents related to the IPL and its franchises over the last two days, have come across CCTV footage of a woman leaving IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi's office with a laptop and some papers minutes before the sleuths' arrival on Thursday.

The footage shows the woman, who is yet to be identified, leaving Modi's office at a plush central Mumbai hotel minutes before IT officials arrived there late Thursday evening.

"We are looking at who this woman is and what was she carrying. From the CCTV footage, it appears that she was leaving Modi's office with a laptop and some papers," a source in Income Tax department told PTI here.

"We are trying to find out if any of the items she was carrying has any connection to the IPL," the source added.

The CCTV footage has given rise to suspicion that some important documents might have been taken away from Modi's office in the hotel just prior to the IT sleuths' visit.

On Thursday, Income Tax authorities had also conducted an "inspection" of the IPL headquarters at Wankhede Stadium in south Mumbai.

While this inspection was underway near Churchgate, it is possible that Modi's associates were alerted about this and managed to shift some documents elsewhere, the source said.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/i-t-probing-woman-who-left-modis-room-before-visit/16/38/91576/on

Modi counters, says there was no council meeting
Press Trust of India / Dharamsala April 17, 2010, 14:00 IST

Amid reports that IPL Governing Council members met informally here on clipping his powers, Lalit Modi today remained unfazed, saying all speculation in this regard is wrong.

"There was no meeting. It is absolutely wrong. Please don't create news," he told reporters who asked whether the Governing Council met here and considered downsizing him in the wake of the controversies surrounding the stake-holders.

He said members were "flying up and down" and were meeting at individual levels.

About the Governing Council meeting, he said as chairman he would call a meeting when there is need.

Meanwhile, BCCI FInance and Media Committee chairman Rajiv Shukla said there was no formal or informal meeting of the governing council.

"I have also read reports in the media about the meeting and chairmanship of IPL. This is all speculation, all I can say is soon the Governing Council is meeting to take a decision.

"Whatever decisions are needed will be taken at that meeting," he said when asked whether Modi's powers are to be curtailed and whether another person would be appointed as co-chairman.

Asked whether the BCCI intends to take over the IPL, he said the IPL was a sub-committee of the BCCI and there was no such need.

To a query about the Income Tax raids, he said the IPL and BCCI were cooperating with the probe and whatever documents were being sought were being given.

Tharoor builds innings on a sticky pitch, slams critics
Bs Reporter / New Delhi April 17, 2010, 0:42 IST

Defending his innings on a sticky pitch over the IPL controversy, a “proud” Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor today hit back saying his detractors are not happy to see the “triumph of Kerala”.

Amid vociferous protests of opposition leaders and after repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor refuted all charges trying to evoke emotions while scoring political points: “The unexpected success of the Kerala consortium was apparently not acceptable to some interested parties. This has led to a number of public insinuations about the composition and ownership of the consortium, and of my role in it. I am proud to have helped the consortium come to Kerala.”

Tharoor also hit out at IPL commissioner Lalit Modi saying, “The unethical efforts to thwart the Kerala franchise are disgraceful. They are also dangerous to the health and credibility of a sport that has captured the passions and the loyalty of a majority of Indians. Indeed, such behaviour brings the IPL itself into disrepute. ”

On the issue of his partner Sunanda Pushkar getting equity worth Rs 70 crore as sweat equity, Tharoor resorted to the Rendezvous Sports World statement that “sweat equity” was issued to its associates in lieu of a salary.

The statement read out by Tharoor was drafted with the help of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s trusted lieutenants Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony. But top party sources suggest that the cloud over the flamboyant minister has not passed yet because the final call on his survival in the council of ministers will be taken by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

After meeting the party chief for five minutes on Thursday, Tharoor will meet the PM on his return to India. The prime minister will be back in Delhi from Brazil on Saturday. A top Congress leader told Business Standard, “Many things will depend on how the opposition react. If there is too much pressure, the PM might have to expel him.” Several members of the opposition parties, SP, BSP and RJD stuck to their demand asking Tharoor to resign even after his clarifications leading to the final adjournment in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress party has already made it clear that he has to defend himself in this issue. After instructing him to furnish all facts and details about his involvement in the IPL franchisee auction the party has also told him clearly that if facts are later proved otherwise, he will have to quit the minister’s chair.

Opposition unlikely to let Tharoor off the hook easily

Though External Affairs Minister Shashi Tharoor furnished a statement refuting all charges, the Opposition parties are in no mood to let him off the hook easily. To embarrass the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to demand the prime minister’s explanation on why Tharoor will not be sacked.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/tharoor-builds-innings-onsticky-pitch-slams-critics/14/01/392203/
...and I am Sid Harth