Narendra Modi helped Adani in IPL bid: Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday alleged that in 2009-10, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, who were then the president and vice-president of the Gujarat Cricket Association, respectively, sought to help industrialist Gautam Adani in his bid to own an IPL team by manipulating bids with the help of Lalit Modi. Narendra Modi is now the Prime Minister of the country and Amit Shah is the BJP president.

Sibal alleged that Lalit Modi had rigged the tender conditions to favour the industrialist. He claimed that an inquiry committee under Arun Jaitley had held that the objective of Lalit Modi was to “restrict the number of bidders to favour Videocon and Adani groups”. In a release on Monday, Sibal stated that: “Documentary evidence suggests that the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi along with Shri Amit Shah was apparently involved in manipulating bids with the help of Lalit Modi to ensure that the Gujarat Cricket Association with Shri Narendra Modi as president and Shri Amit Shah, his Man Friday as vice-president, favours Shri Narendra Modi’s omnipresent friend Shri Gautam Adani with an IPL franchise by imposing onerous conditions through a carefully crafted strategy. The Adani Group/Videocon were being helped to seek a franchise for an IPL Team for Ahmedabad.”

The Indian Express had reported that a disciplinary committee report submitted to the BCCI by Arun Jaitley had found Lalit Modi guilty of having indulged in ‘bid-rigging’ by favouring two specific parties, Adani Group and Videocon, during the IPL franchise bidding process in 2010. The committee proved that the then IPL chairman had introduced two ‘unreasonable and onerous’ clauses in the final draft of the invitation to tender (ITT) without the knowledge or approval of the IPL governing council (GC) in a deliberate attempt to restrict the number of bidders. The two contentious clauses that weren’t part of the original draft that was approved by the GC — according to the report — called for the bidder to have ‘a net worth of US$ 1 billion’ and ‘has to give a bank guarantee of Rs 460 crore’.

As it turned out only two bids were received. And upon receiving complaints from other aggrieved parties — Sahara and Dainik Jagran — the BCCI decided to scrap the dubious tender on March 7, 2010. The report states that the BCCI relied upon four witnesses to support their case, one of them being IPL CEO Sundar Raman.

In his defence, Lalit Modi had backed the net worth clause by insisting that since franchises become ‘cash positive’ only in the eighth year, it was crucial that they have ‘deep pockets’. And that the bank guarantee had been sought for in the best interests of the IPL and for the stability of the league.

Lalit Modi behind rebel body

New Delhi: He is living in exile and facing arrest but that has not stopped sacked IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi from preparing the blueprint for a breakaway governing body for cricket to rival the ICC – a plan which he claims is the future “world order”.

Modi, who faces allegations of financial impropriety and is currently based here, said the new body would be affiliated with the Olympic movement and oversee Test and T20 competitions, while scrapping the ODI format altogether. “We’re talking about another cricketing system. There is a blueprint out there, it’s got my rubber stamp on it,” Modi told ‘Australian Broadcasting Corporation’.

“I have been involved in it. I say it for the first time, I’ve been involved in putting that (blue)print together. We could take on the existing establishment, no problem. It requires a few billion dollars, I don’t think it would be a problem to get that … into action,” he said. “The plan that I have put together is a very detailed plan, it’s not a plan that’s come off the cuff, it’s been taking years and years and years in the making,” he added.

Modi, a pariah in cricket after he was sacked in 2010 as commissioner of the very league he conceptualized, has an arrest warrant against him based on the Enforcement Directorate’s allegations.

Modi has denied all charges against him.

The controversial administrator said his plan would only fail if the ICC, currently headed by his nemesis and former BCCI President N Srinivasan, carries out reforms.

“I hope that print (the blueprint) doesn’t take off. But if the people can’t continue, then that print will take off and that blueprint will become the world order tomorrow. I guarantee you that, sitting here today,” he said.

Modi said his blueprint comprises a calendar of events to rival the ICC’s schedule in Tests and T20 games. “The plan conceives only of Test cricket and T20; it doesn’t take into account one-day at all. I think that is completely redundant in today’s day and age. I think it should just be T20 and Test matches that should be played,” he said.