Published: Saturday, Apr 17, 2010, 2:10 IST
By Harish Gupta | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_after-bitter-wrangle-truce-may-be-on-cards_1372346
A temporary truce may be on the cards after five days of no-holds-barred war of words between Indian Premier League (IPL) commissioner Lalit Modi and minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor.
A peace formula is expected to be worked out at Dharamshala, where all top personalities of the cricketing world and IPL governing council members have gathered to watch the match on Friday night.
All of them travelled in a private aircraft and Modi will explain his side of the story to them. The outcome of this meeting will be known only when they return to the capital on Saturday.
However, all confess that indiscreet tweeting has caused immense damage to both Tharoor and Modi, who were “good friends” till the other day. It is now clear that Modi’s unfettered powers to award contracts running into crores of rupees without the prior approval of the IPL council will be withdrawn.
However, those gunning for him in the BCCI will be disappointed as Sharad Pawar is backing him to the hilt.
The connection between both runs deep.
It was Modi who ensured Pawar’s victory in a bitterly fought election for the BCCI chairman’s post against Jagmohan Dalmiya.
He is also the man who has brought the Rs15,000 crore cricket league to where it is today. Sharad Pawar cannot afford to change course mid-way.
It was against this backdrop that he issued a strong statement in support of Modi and sent a clear signal to the UPA government that it should not go beyond income tax raids.
It is believed that the income tax raids on Modi’s IPL offices were conducted at the behest of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The raid was a signal to all to “back-off”. After Pawar’s warning, the I-T teams were quietly withdrawn and now it is being explained that it was not a raid but a survey.
It is also becoming clear that the Congress will not sacrifice Tharoor on the issue of alleged impropriety. It has put the Tharoor issue in the prime minister’s hands.
He will face the parliament when he returns from abroad. But the opposition’s onslaught in the parliament is likely to continue for some time.
