'Tharoor wants to take Kochi to Abu Dhabi'
Was the Kochi IPL team being shifted to the middle-east. On Friday, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi claimed that minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was planning to take the Kochi franchise away to Abu Dhabi.
Was the Kochi IPL team being shifted to the middle-east. On Friday, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi claimed that minister of state for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor was planning to take the Kochi franchise away to Abu Dhabi.
"This morning, I learnt from a colleague of mine that Mr Tharoor has approached someones saying that he would like their support to move the team out to Abu Dhabi. I don't know which way they are going. The theme is to play in India, We will not allow any team to play outside India," he said.
"We will not allow Mr Tharoor to try and cover this up. Tharoor has a different agenda and we will not allow that to materialise, believe me," Modi said.
Rubbishing Modi’s claim, Tharoor said he heard after his return from Parliament that he had an agenda to shift the Kochi team to Abu Dhabi.
"Why should I take it to Abu Dhabi? I had referred to Dubai because there are a large number of Malayalees there and in the rest of the Gulf. There can be a possibility of an exhibition match. There is no question of my taking the team to Abu Dhabi."
The Kochi IPL team also denied the claims.
No move to undermine my authority: Modi
Modi said there was no move within the BCCI to clip his wings. "The constitution provides me to be Chairman. There is no co-Chairman position right now. We will deal with it. This is an internal matter."
Modi however admitted that there could be differences within the BCCI on the style of functioning. "I am sure there will be a divide. We have lived with the divide in the past and we will live with it in future. But we are not going to allow it (IPL) to derail," he said.