New name emerges in the IPL saga -Governance Now

New name emerges in the IPL saga

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel was in touch with Tharoor over the franchisee’s valuation

GN Bureau | April 22, 2010

A day after civil aviation minister claimed he was not associated with the IPL in any way, it has emerged that his office was in touch with the former junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor over the projected valuation of the new franchisee.

According to a report in Economic Times today, Patel’s personal secretary had last month sent a mail to Tharoor with a Microsoft Excel document containing projections of new franchisee valuations in IPL.

The emails, that ET claims it has seen, show that Champa Bharatwaj, personal secretary to Mr Patel, forwarded a mail from her official ID to Shashi Tharoor’s personal ID, hours after IPL CEO Sundar Raman sent the same document to the aviation minister’s daughter and IPL hospitality manager Poorna Patel.

Patel has called a press conference in the capital today in which he is likely to react to the report. Earlier, Patel had vehemently denied his role in the IPL corruption saga that has been unfolding ever since the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi disclosed the names of the Kochi franchisee owners. “I have never been part of the IPL bidding process at all—whether it was round one or round two. This is a completely baseless allegation,” Patel told ET on Tuesday Reacting to the report on the said mail, Patel on Wednesday told ET that his secretary was only forwarding information requested by Tharoor.

“Shashi and I have been friends and he did ask me whether I could help him with some information in the capacity of a friend, since he was putting together a team from Kochi. I spoke to Lalit and told him that Shashi wanted some information. Beyond that I don’t know what information has been passed. If I was a bidder, why would I help out a competitor with information?” he told ET.

According to the ET report Patel’s secretary sent a mail to Tharoor at 10:06 pm on March 19, two days before the bids were opened and Tharoor-supported Kochi consortium sprang a surprise by making the second-highest bid. About two hours earlier that day, this document was first sent by IPL CEO Sundar Raman to Poorna Patel, the aviation minister’s 24-year-old daughter who works with the league as hospitality manager. Raman sent copies of the mail to herl and one Peter Griffiths of IMG.

Comments

Other News

‘Oral cancer deaths in India cause productivity loss of 0.18% GDP’

A first-of-its-kind study on the economic loss due to premature death from oral cancer in India by the Tata Memorial Centre has found that this form of cancer has a premature mortality rate of 75.6% (34 premature events / 45 total events) resulting in productivity loss of approximately $5.6 billion in 2022

Days of Reading: Upendra Baxi recalls works that shaped his youth

Of Law and Life Upendra Baxi in Conversation with Arvind Narrain, Lawrence Liang, Sitharamam Kakarala, and Sruti Chaganti Orient BlackSwan, Rs 2,310

Voting by tribal communities blossoms as ECI’s efforts bear fruit

The efforts made by the Election Commission of India (ECI), over last two years, for inclusion of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) communities and other tribal groups in the electoral process have borne fruit with scenes of tribal groups in various states/UTs participating enthusiastically in t

GST revenue for April 2024 at a new high

The gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections hit a record high in April 2024 at ₹2.10 lakh crore. This represents a significant 12.4% year-on-year growth, driven by a strong increase in domestic transactions (up 13.4%) and imports (up 8.3%). After accounting for refunds, the net GST

First Magahi novel presents a glimpse of Bihar bureaucracy a century ago

Fool Bahadur By Jayanath Pati (Translated by Abhay K.) Penguin Modern Classics, 112 pages, Rs 250 “Bab

Are EVs empowering India`s Green Transition?

Against the backdrop of the $3.5 billion Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme launched by the Government of India, sales of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are expected to grow at a CAGR of 35% by 2032. It is crucial to take into account the fact that 86% of EV sales in India were under the price bracket of $2