Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, in a bid to downplay the Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy, today hit back saying the IPL was just “commercial cricket” and not a national tournament.

Minister of State in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Anand Sharma tried to quash the hue and cry from different quarters on the government’s inability to provide security to the tournament that resulted into the flight of IPL to South Africa. “What is the effect of the IPL on the government? It is not even a BCCI tournament. It’s just commercial cricket.”

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