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IPL row not to hit ties with NCP: Cong
The IPL controversy will not cloud its ties with NCP as there is a "Chinese wall" between cricket and politics, the Congress said on Wednesday.
The IPL controversy will not cloud its ties with NCP as there is a "Chinese wall" between cricket and politics, the Congress said on Wednesday.
It also made it clear that the law will take its own course if there was any violation of rules regarding the IPL.
"There is a Chinese wall between what is happening in the field of cricket and ...that in politics," Congress spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here.
His remark was aimed at putting at rest reports that the row would cast its shadow on Centre as also in Maharashtra, Goa and Meghalaya where the two parties share power.
The AICC statement is significant as it came a day after the simmering tension between the two parties over the controversy came to the fore with Union Minister Praful Patel charging a section of the ruling party of launching a "slanderous campaign" about his involvement in the matter.
Remarks of Patel, who is Deputy leader of NCP in the Lok Sabha, came against the backdrop of reports that two Union Ministers were involved in the IPL, which is under cloud following allegations of betting and money laundering.
Tewari also had a dig at NCP by saying that the Congress was more concerned about BPL (Below Poverty Line) than IPL (Indian Premier League).
Replying to questions on the issue, he said an inquiry is underway and if it yields something "incriminating", it was obvious that law will take its own course.
A senior Congress leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed the IPL controversy will actually lead to the NCP's ties with Congress getting more strengthened.
BJP is seeking to fish in troubled waters with a senior leader, who asked not to be named, saying that the party's strategy was only to target the Congress as Sharad Pawar's party has eight members in the Lok Sabha and numbers will count when opposition moves a cut motion to the Finance Bill.
Meanwhile, Tewari said the Shashi Tharoor issue was a closed chapter following the resignation of the Minister of state for External Affairs.
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