Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, the former India captain, has struck the first note of contrition since the whole IPL mess broke out. Pataudi, who is a Governing Council member, conceded that his colleagues and he should have taken a closer look at things.
“I think there was a lapse. In retrospect, we should have taken it more seriously. I am not sure if IPL itself is capable of going into depths of scrutiny if the money is come from somewhere. It has to be done by some kind of agency of the government,” Pataudi told CNN IBN. “IPL is not capable of doing that, but the point is that the IPL was doing so well. People said - “bhai theek hai - everything is ok let it carry on.”
Pataudi also admitted that there was need for much more careful policing and perhaps this was something the Governing Council failed to do. He stopped short of saying that the entire council should resign, but did not shy away from accepting responsibility. “I think, yes you can't escape it,” said Pataudi. “We also got a bit carried away with all the nice things that seem to be happening and perhaps we were not quite questioning as we should have been.”
Pataudi also said it would be wrong of Modi to skip the Governing Council meeting on the 26th and that such a move could well end in Modi's ouster. “I think that if I was in his position at this stage, I would certainly attend the meeting and try and answer questions,” he said. “If I didn't have an answer, I would ask for time and if I got the feeling that people were apprehensive I would step down till the whole thing was sorted out.”
{{/usCountry}}Pataudi also said it would be wrong of Modi to skip the Governing Council meeting on the 26th and that such a move could well end in Modi's ouster. “I think that if I was in his position at this stage, I would certainly attend the meeting and try and answer questions,” he said. “If I didn't have an answer, I would ask for time and if I got the feeling that people were apprehensive I would step down till the whole thing was sorted out.”
{{/usCountry}}Pataudi was of the view that the Board of Control for Cricket in India would be forced to take a very harsh stance on Modi if he failed to attend the meeting on April 26.
Pataudi hoped that now that things were being scrutinised, the probe would go the distance. “We would like everything to be enquired into,” he said. “We want to know where this money came from, how it came, who it belongs to, who got help, who helped, who didn't help … Everything has to come out. Now that you've started the procedure, please complete it so that at least people get some confidence back in you.”