New Delhi, Apr 19 (ANI): Minister of Indian Overseas Affairs Vayalar Ravi on Monday said the Central Government should look into the role of big cash coming into the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket championship.
Addressing reporters outside Parliament here, Ravi alleged the IPL was ”glorified gambling” run with black money.
“It is for the government to look into the whole system, what is this IPL, who are these people, where the money comes? It is a matter of concern,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said the government should take over after scrapping cricket bodies, including the IPL and the national cricket board.
“IPL should be scrapped, government should take it over and nationalise it. The game of IPL should continue. All the cricket bodies like the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) should be scrapped,” said Yadav.
Communist Party of India -Marxist (CPI-M) demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe on the issue.
“There is no full stop after the resignation of Tharoor, question is whether he is guilty or not, whether the post has been misused or not? Everyday new revelations regarding IPL are coming into light,” said CPI-M politburo member Brinda Karat.
“It is said that the Income Tax Department knew for the last six months, even then the government did not intervene. Who are the patrons of the IPL in the government, this also should be investigated and that is why a Joint Parliamentary Committee is required,” she added.
Monday”s development came a day after Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and tendered his resignation over the Kochi IPL fiasco.
Dr Singh accepted the resignation and formally sent it to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil. A late night release from the President”s House confirmed the acceptance of the resignation.
Tharoor was reportedly in trouble after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi tweeted to reveal that Sunanda Pushkar, a close associate of Tharoor, had been gifted sweat equity worth Rs 70 crores in the new Kochi team, which was sold for Rs 1530 crores last month.
Modi in his email to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief Shashank Manohar had stated it was Tharoor who called him and instructed him not to reveal the identities of the stakeholders of the Kochi IPL franchisee.
Tharoor, however, had denied this.
Tharoor said he had ”enough” of the controversy and denied securing any monetary interest in the Kochi IPL team. (ANI)