With the public showdown between Lalit Modi and Shashi Tharoor over the Kochi team's stake-holding structure snowballing into a major controversy, the BCCI has decided to convene a meeting of the IPL Governing Council within 10 days to discuss and take a decision on the episode.

A day after Modi's controversial tweets virtually opened a can of worms on the Kochi franchise of the IPL, the BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla said the cricket board viewed the matter seriously.

"BCCI president has decided to convene an IPL Governing Council meeting within 10 days to discuss all the issues and take a decision," Shukla told reporters after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence.

Shukla, who maintained that her meeting with Sonia Gandhi had nothing to do with the Tharoor issue, said, "Whatever allegations have been made from both the sides, all those issues will be deliberated upto at the meeting of the Governing Council.

"I don't want to make a comment or any observation on what one has said against the other. All I was trying to suggest that all these issues will be discussed in the meeting convened by the BCCI president," he said.

Asked whether he had a discussion with Sonia Gandhi on Tharoor's role in the IPL Kochi team, Shukla said, "I had no discussion with Sonia Gandhi on this issue. It was a regular meeting with the AICC president."

Whether the BCCI took the public spat between IPL commissioner Modi and Minister of State for External Affairs Tharoor seriously, Shukla said, "BCCI president understands the urgency of the issue, that's why he has convened the meeting."

Modi had on Sunday disclosed the names of the free equity holders in the little known Rendezvous Sports World (RSW) which coughed up approximately Rs 1533 crore to bag the Kochi franchise, a move which put Tharoor in a spot of bother as Sunanda Pushkar, a lady reportedly close to the minister, figured in the list.

Miffed by the disclosure, RSW threatened to send a legal notice to Modi and accused the IPL Commissioner of breaking the confidentiality terms. The Kochi franchise has also complained to BCCI president Shashank Manohar about Modi's indiscretion.

Modi hinted there was pressure on him not to reveal the details of who all owns Rendezvous.

"I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, specially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?" said Modi.

Tharoor had all along denied having a stake in the Kochi franchise, saying he played merely a facilitator's role.

In a lengthy rejoinder today, Tharoor denied calling Modi and requesting him not to disclose details of the RSW stakeholders.

Earlier report:

Union minister Shashi Tharoor, locked in a fresh controversy around the Kochi IPL team which he helped set up, on Monday hit back at IPL boss Lalit Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium to abandon their bid for the Kerala outfit.

Tharoor also denied that he had told Modi not to ask details about owners of the consortium led by Rendezvous that bought the new franchisee.

In a statement, the minister of state for external affairs trained his guns on the powerful cricket board official alleging that various attempts were made by Modi and others to pressure the members of the consortium to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state.

According to reports, Ahmedabad was being mentioned as the other city.

"I deny Mr Lalit Modi's allegation that I called him during his meeting with investors in the Kochi consortium in Bangalore on Saturday night in order to press him not to question the composition of the consortium," Tharoor said.

Voicing his displeasure at the turn of events which saw him pitted against Lalit Modi, Tharoor also tweeted, "I have had enough."

"Rendezvous includes a number of people including many I have never met, and Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well," he said. Tharoor is reportedly planning to marry Sunanda.

Tharoor said he was issuing the statement in a personal capacity to respond to the allegations made against him personally.

He said Rendezvous bid successfully in an open and transparent process. "Their unexpected success upset the plans of a lot of powerful people, who had wanted the franchise to go elsewhere," he added.

"Mr Modi raised assorted objections to the bid documents but finally had no choice but to approve them, " he said.

Tharoor alleged that Modi's extraordinary breach of all propriety in publicly raising issues relating to the composition of the consortium and himself personally is clearly an attempt to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it so that the franchise can be awarded elsewhere.

The minister also emphatically said he did not intend to benefit in any way financially from his association with the Kochi team now or at a later stage.

"My role in mentoring the consortium included several conversations with Mr Lalit Modi, who guided us through the process and presented himself as a trusted friend," he said.

A consortium led by Rendezvous was set up to bid for an IPL team, he said, adding, they approached him for help and guidance. "I steered them towards Kerala".

Tharoor said contemptible efforts have been made to drag in matters of personal life which "I do not intend to dignify by commenting on them."

The minister said he called Modi to ask why he was further delaying the approval of the franchise when all the legal requirements had been fulfilled.

"Mr Modi had held up approval by the IPL of the franchisee agreement earlier in the day, by insisting on the reversal of a change in the document that he himself had earlier suggested.This change was made, the consortium members flew to Bangalore and met with Mr Modi after that night?s IPL game for what they had been told would be a routine exercise. Instead they were submitted to a barrage of questions which led some to suspect that Mr Modi was seeking a further excuse to delay approval. This was the reason for my intervention with Mr Modi. Had he conducted himself in good faith throughout, no call would have been necessary," the minister said.

On the question of his interests in the franchise, Tharoor said he was proud to have helped the consortium come to Kerala.

"I have neither invested nor received a rupee for my mentorship of the team. Whatever my personal relationships with any of the consortium members," he added.

The "unethical" efforts that have been made by Modi and others to thwart the Kerala franchise which had been won fair and square in a transparent bidding process are disgraceful, he said.

"It has been clear for some time that the real motive is to assign this IPL team elsewhere than Kerala. All of us in Kerala hope that the BCCI will not permit statements and activities which seek to discredit the Kerala team before it has even had a chance to prove its worth. The public attempts by Mr Modi to besmirch the consortium in fact bring the IPL itself into disrepute," he said.

Rendezvous bough the franchise for the IPL Kochi team for 333 million dollars.

In his tweet yesterday, Modi had not only publicly disclosed the names of the owners of the consortium that bought the franchisee but had also alleged that he was told by Tharoor not to ask who these shareholders were.

Earlier report:

Minister of State for external affairs Shashi Tharoor himself may not be a stakeholder but the lady he is reportedly planning to marry is part of the consortium which owns the Kochi franchise of the Indian Premier League, revealed IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.

Clearing the air about the ownership structure of the little known Rendezvous Sports World which coughed up USD 333.33 million (appr Rs 1533 crore) to bag the Kochi franchise, Modi wrote on his Twitter page that the free equity holders include Kisan Shailender and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulati, Jayant Kotalwar, Vishnu Prasad and Sundip Agarwal.

Media reports have said that Tharoor proposed to marry Sunanda Pushkar, a Kashmiri girl. Trained as a beautician, she runs a spa and has lived in Dubai.

"A lot of you asking shareholders and events surrounding the kochi team. I am compiling a note shortly and will put an official release soon," Modi wrote.

Modi hinted there was pressure on him not to reveal the details of who all owns Rendezvous.

"I was told not to get into who owns Rendezvous, specially Sunanda Pushkar. Why?" said Modi, a disclosure which could land Tharoor in  a fresh controversy.

In a subsequent tweet, Modi spelled out the details.

"Kochi shareholders are: Rendezvous 25 per cent free, Rendezvous one percent, Anchor 27 per cent, Parinee 26 per cent, Film Waves combine 12 per cent, Anand Shyam 8 percent, Vivek Venugopal one percent," Modi tweeted.

Interestingly, Tharoor had played an instrumental role in galvanising the Kochi consortium, insisting all along that he had no financial stake in it.

"All I did on my part was to offer encouragement, blessings and expert advise when required to the bidders.

Beyond that, I had no role to play. It's a group of business people and I understand it's a business decision," Tharoor had said.

"I am not even sure whether I know all of them, nor do I have any knowledge of the decision that how much they were going to bid. I know this Rendezvous Sports World and had met the Gaekwad brothers.

"I have given them all kind of encouragement but my role was limited. It was like...what shall I say...mentor sounds too grand a word," Tharoor had said.

Modi himself had earlier described Tharoor's role as that of a facilitator only.

"Mr Tharoor was involved in facilitating and trying to get a team from Kochi to bid. He is an ardent fan of the game who wanted a team from Kochi and his role ends there," Modi had said.