All asepcts of IPL should be probed: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said all aspects of the Indian Premier League (IPL), including its financial transactions and source of funding, should be investigated but stopped short of demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the matter.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today said all aspects of the Indian Premier League (IPL), including its financial transactions and source of funding, should be investigated but stopped short of demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the matter.

HT Image

"Opposition parties and the BJP demanded in the Lok Sabha that all transactions of IPL should be looked into. There are reports that foreign funds and black money from Swiss banks have also been put into it," BJP Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde said.

Bringing back Indian black money stashed away in tax havens abroad was a major issue raised by BJP during the last Lok Sabha polls. "Later, the UPA government had also promised it would act on this in the first 100 days of forming the new regime but nothing was done," Munde alleged.

The senior BJP leader insisted that Indian intelligence agencies and other organs of the government should investigate the involvement of foreign funds in IPL.

However, when asked if BJP would like a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the IPL issue, Munde said, "Other political parties had demanded it in Parliament but we have not."

He denied that BJP leaders had also invested in IPL.

"No BJP leader is associated with IPL....Vasundhara Raje has made no investment in Rajasthan IPL or in any cricket team," Munde said in reply to a question about whether the former chief minister of Rajasthan had any links to IPL.

Munde said BJP also wants the government to share with Parliament the outcome of this probe into IPL.

"We do not consider the IPL matter closed due to Union minister Shashi Tharoor's resignation. He mediated in the Kochi IPL team and so had to go. We have demanded that investigations should be completed before the end of this Parliament session and shared with both Houses," Munde said.