Lalit Modi yesterday alleged Indian President Pranab Mukherjee for playing “revenge politics” against him in 2010.
Lalit Modi submitted a 46-page statement to UK authorities seeking permission to stay on "as a representative of an overseas business". In the statement the IPL former commissioner blamed then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for ordering Enforcement Directorate against him in connection with his IPL-related and personal financial transactions.
Modi sees the ED as retaliation act to the Congress Union Minister Shashi Tharoor’s sacking.
On April 11, 2010 the IPL Czar alleged that Tharoor’s late wife Sunanda Pushkar held 25% sweat equity in the Kochi IPL franchise and it was Mr. Tharoor who made the bid for the franchise.
This revelation caused a political earthquake in India. The BJP opposition called for the immediate resignation of Tharoor - held in high regard by Congress - from his ministerial post.
Enraged by Mr. Tharoor’s resignation, UPA Government spearheaded by Pranab Mukherjee slashed an ED against Mr. Modi.
On April 25, 2010 Modi was removed as IPL chief. The sack came within a week of Tharoor's resignation and less than two weeks after his tweet exposed Pushkar's stake in the IPL franchise.
Modi's reply to the tribunal, made available to the media at a briefing Abdi held earlier this week, contained the first three pages of the "witness statement by Vasundhara Raje'' who was then leader of opposition in Rajasthan, backing Modi's immigration application.
Modi spoke of "attacks from within the BCCI" and narrated how his relationship with N Srinivasan, then board treasurer, "started deteriorating from September 2007 because of the formation of IPL''. He said Srinivasan began considering him a threat within the BCCI setup.
Modi even narrates how Srinivasan was a "close personal friend of P Chidambaram, then Union home minister and an MP from TN where Srinivasan headed the cricket association. Srinivasan, Modi said, "saw an opportunity to discredit me once and for all''. He said "storm clouds (had) gathered over me following my revelation of Tharoor's stake in the Kochi bid".
- Manohar
