Union Minister Shashi Tharoor, locked in a fresh controversy around the Kochi IPL team which he helped set up, today hit back at IPL boss Lalit Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium to abandon their bid for the Kerala outfit.
Tharoor also denied that he had told Modi not to ask details about owners of the consortium led by Rendezvous that bought the new franchise. Sunanda Pushkar, a Dubai-based Kashmiri beautician whom Tharoor is reportedly planning to marry, figures in the list of the free equity holders in the little-known company.
In a statement, the minister of state for external affairs trained his guns on the powerful cricket board official alleging that various attempts were made by Modi and others to pressure the members of the consortium to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state. According to reports, Ahmedabad was being mentioned as the other city.
"I deny Lalit Modi's allegation that I called him during his meeting with investors in the Kochi consortium in Bangalore on Saturday night in order to press him not to question the composition of the consortium," Tharoor said.
Voicing his displeasure at the turn of events which saw him pitted against Lalit Modi, Tharoor also tweeted, "I have had enough."
"Rendezvous includes a number of people including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he said. Rendezvous bought the franchise for the IPL Kochi team for $333 million. The value of the stake owned by Sunanda is reportedly about $16 million.
In his tweet yesterday, Modi had not only publicly disclosed the names of the owners of the consortium that bought the franchise but had also alleged that he was told by Tharoor not to ask who these shareholders were.