BCCI chief arrives in capital, to meet Pawar on IPL issue

BCCI President Shashank Manohar today flew into the capital to hold discussions with former cricket board chief Sharad Pawar in the wake of the ragging controversy surrounding the cash-awash Indian Premier League.

A close aide of Manohar confirmed that the BCCI chief will meet Pawar and some other board officials during his stay here.

Manohar's visit comes amid reports that the top brass of BCCI are planning to remove controversial Modi from the post of IPL Commissioner and Chairman. The meeting also assumes significance as Pawar is said to be backing Modi.

The Cricket Board has also rescheduled its Working Committee meeting from April 24 to May 2 as it wants the IPL Governing Council -- which is expected to meet here on April 26, a day after the IPL final -- to first discuss the issue.

The BCCI top officials are said to be extremely unhappy with Modi after he triggered the controversy by tweeting the Kochi franchise's stakeholding pattern, which also brought the cricket board under the Income Tax department's scanner.

Modi himself is under fire for allegedly helping his family and friends buy stakes in various IPL teams.

His tweets about Kochi's shareholding created a political storm as it emerged that Minister of State for External Affair Shashi Tharoor's close friend Sunanda Pushkar had a sweat equity worth Rs 70 crore. Tharoor had to resign, while Pushkar also gave up her stake in Kochi franchise.