Srinagar, Apr 18: Terming the tussle between Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor and IPL CEO, Lalit Modi as unfortunate, the JKCA President Dr Farooq Abdullah hoped that upcoming BCCI meet would settle the issue.
 Referring to the Tharoor-Modi controversy, he said “The issue will be discussed in April 23 meeting in Mumbai and we will get details as to what happened and only then I will be able to diagnose the problem. I have requested the BCCI to play a major role in future”.
 When asked about his statement that Tharoor should resign he said, “I said it in different context and it has been blown out of proportion. Karan Thapar asked me what I would have done if I would have been in Tharoor’s place. I replied, in first place I will not be in such situation and if I will then I will resign. But all this I said about myself and not about Tharoor. I am no one to ask him to resign”
 Later I looked into the statement given by Tharoor in Parliament and he had explained everything.
 “He made it clear that there is no financial gain from IPL Kochi team for him. He was just trying to facilitate his home state to get IPL team which in no way is wrong” he added.
 The tussle between Modi and Tharoor started after IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi tweeted to reveal that Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of Tharoor, had been gifted equity worth Rs 70 crores in the new Kochi team which was sold for Rs 1530 crores last month.
 Modi in his e-mail to the Board of Control for Cricket in India chief, Shashank Manohar had stated it was Tharoor who called him and instructed him not to reveal the identities of the stakeholders of the Kochi IPL franchisee. Tharoor, however, has denied pressurizing Modi.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST