IPL governing council meeting to discuss Tharoor issue

With the public showdown between Lalit Modi and minister Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi franchise snowballing into a major controversy, the BCCI has decided to convene a meeting of the IPL Governing Council within 10 days to discuss and take a decision on the episode.

A day after Modi disclosed that Sunanda Pushkar, who is reportedly close Tharoor, had stakes worth close to Rs 70 crore in the Kochi team, the controversy took a more serious turn today with the minister saying that Modi's tweets were "an extraordinary breach of all propriety" and designed to discredit the franchise.

The BCCI has taken a serious view of the public spat between the IPL commissioner and the Minister of State for External Affairs, which may now have ramifications beyond the IPL.

"BCCI president has decided to convene an IPL Governing Council meeting within 10 days to discuss all the issues and take a decision," BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla told reporters after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

Shukla, who maintained that her meeting with Sonia Gandhi had nothing to do with the Tharoor issue, said, "Whatever allegations have been made from both the sides, all those issues will be deliberated upon at the meeting of the Governing Council.

"I don't want to make a comment or any observation on what one has said against the other. All I am trying to suggest is that all these issues will be discussed in the meeting convened by the BCCI president," he said.

Asked whether he had a discussion with Sonia Gandhi on Tharoor's role in the IPL Kochi team, Shukla said, "I had no discussion with Sonia Gandhi on this issue. It was a regular meeting with the AICC president."

Whether the BCCI took the public spat between Modi and Tharoor seriously, Shukla said, "BCCI president understands the urgency of the issue, that's why he has convened the meeting."

According to a top BCCI source, Lalit Modi's tweets have not gone down well with the top brass of the cricket board as he has often announced important decisions without taking the consent of the governing body.

After receiving a complaint from the Kochi franchise on Modi's indiscretion, BCCI president Shashank Manohar shot off a strongly-worded letter to the IPL commissioner, criticising his decision to make public the ownership details.