Farooq for curbing Modi's power, not removal from IPL top post

Union Minister Farooq Abdullah is not in favour of removing Lalit Modi from IPL Commissioner's post in the wake of the Kochi franchise controversy but said his powers should be curbed by the BCCI president.

Union Minister Farooq Abdullah is not in favour of removing Lalit Modi from IPL Commissioner's post in the wake of the Kochi franchise controversy but said his powers should be curbed by the BCCI president.

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Abdullah, who is also the President of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, said Modi had to come clean on the stakes held by some of his relatives.

Asked whether he would want Modi to be cut to size or remove him from IPL Commissioner's post in the light of the public spat with Shashi Tharoor, Abdullah said, "No, I would not be in favour of it. But I would want the BCCI president to also exert a dominant power."

"It is not about downsizing him but it is about (having) checks and balances," he told Karan Thapar in Devil's Advocate Programme on CNN-IBN.

Abdullah also felt that Modi would have to clarify as to how the IPL Digital rights have been owned by his relatives.

Asked whether an explanation should be sought by the BCCI from Modi in this Digital rights issue, he said, "Yes, strongly. Whether he has played underhand to get them (for his relatives). If they (relatives) have got it on their own I am not against it."