Just minutes after his press conference in Mumbai, Subrata Roy, chairman, Sahara India group, in a telephonic interview with Surajeet Das Gupta, spoke on the reasons for ending his eleven-year association with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Edited excerpts:
What made you walk out of the sponsorship of the BCCI and the Indian Premier League (IPL)?
It is amazing how people sitting at the helm of affairs have become cowards. They have become ‘lakir ka fakir’, and do not understand why rules are made. They have deprived us of our rights of natural justice. Whenever we have approached them with issues, they have refused to help, and we have now reached a stage in which we are perturbed by their behavior. So, we said enough is enough. And, this is happening after the group has spent over Rs 1,000 crore in various sponsorships on the BCCI.
BCCI has said it has not been formally informed.
I talked to the BCCI president at length last night, and clearly explained to him we could not go along like this. It is my duty to inform them, and I have done so.
Given you are walking out of the sponsorship deal with the Indian cricket team more than a year before the contract ends, do you think the BCCI would demand compensation? What does the contract say?
I am not sure. My legal department will look into it. However, I hope the BCCI will not make it a legal battle and will have amicable discussions with us to settle the issue. There is nothing which cannot be settled through discussions. However, if it wants a legal battle, we have to go through it.
You have been with the Pune Warriors IPL team for only a year. By walking out of this, would you have to pay compensation to the BCCI? Have you made the payments to the BCCI that a franchisee is required to?
We are up-to-date with our payments, as they are given in certain installments. Again, our legal team will look into the various issues. The contract is, in any case, fully loaded in favour of the BCCI. For instance, if you play even one match in the IPL, you have to make payments for the entire tournament. We hope again the BCCI will settle the issue amicably and not go for a legal battle.
Is your decision on ending the deal with the Pune Warriors final? Would you reconsider your decision if the BCCI accepts your demands?
I really don't have an answer. As far as we are concerned, we have taken a decision not to carry on in Pune Warriors. Also, we have announced a series of sports programmes and academies and these would require money. So, I can't just walk out of these, as these are firm commitments. However, I have pleaded with the BCCI that they should allow the players in the team to play in the forthcoming tournament and get a new owner for the team. I am concerned about the players, as I don't want them to lose the opportunity to play. I am flexible only on the issue that the players should not be impacted.
What was the last incident that eventually led you to realise it was end of the road with the BCCI?
We had asked that as Yuvraj Singh is our own marquee player and there is no question of him playing in the IPL this year, the amount we paid him should be included in our overall purse to buy new players in the auction. Last year, we had already got Sourav Ganguly for $0.4 million and while there were not too many great players around, we could get at least some good players for this year's IPL. But the BCCI told us this was against the rules. However, the reality is the rule book is blank on this issue. It only talks about a remedy in case a player is injured for four to five matches, not for the entire tournament. This was too much for us.
