Sena chief attacks Pawar on IPL issue

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who shares a good relationship with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday attacked him, saying his attempts to come clean on the IPL bid row have proved futile.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, who shares a good relationship with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday attacked him, saying his attempts to come clean on the IPL bid row have proved futile.

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“Pawar’s politics has always revolved around money and the power that comes from it. Nobody knows him better than I do,” the Sena chief said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana.

“The money which bailed him out of many difficult situations has now put him in a tight spot and even if he applies oil on his body, he will not be able wriggle out of IPL scam,” it said.

“Pawar cannot escape (from the IPL bid row) as Congress has cornered him totally and the person behind it is Sonia Gandhi,” Thackeray claimed.

“The IPL scam has proved costly for him. I had told him many times to concentrate on agriculture (his portfolio) and not cricket. The same cricket has cornered him politically. His opponents in Congress are now capitalising on it,” the editorial said.

Describing IPL as a “poisonous seed” in commercial cricket, Thackeray said Shashi Tharoor was asked by the Prime Minister to resign on moral grounds in connection with bidding for Kochi franchise and later on the names of Praful Patel and Pawar too figured.