Cornered Modi declares all-out war on BCCI bosses

Pushed against the wall by his detractors in the cricketing establishment, an embattled Lalit Modi, the commissioner of the Indian Premier League (IPL), virtually declared war on his Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) colleagues on Wednesday by terming the IPL governing council meeting called on April 26 “null and void”.

Faced with the prospect of an unceremonious sack, Modi also launched a frontal attack on BCCI president Shashank Manohar and his (Modi’s) arch enemy in the board N Srinivasan, the owner of Chennai Super Kings, calling him a ‘conflicted party’.

On the governing council meeting, Modi made his displeasure open to Manohar. “I disagree with you completely. The IPL has been given the powers by the general body to hold their own meetings and I’m sorry to say the honorary secretary has never called a GC (governing council) since its inception.” The board, however, has stuck to its guns, stating the meeting will be held as scheduled “whether or not Modi attends”.

Modi also trained his guns on Manohar for not willing to make the names of all IPL owners public. Confidential letters in possession of DNA show that Modi wanted the names to be disclosed while Manohar wanted restraint on the matter.

Officials in the BCCI do not appear perturbed. “He is making our job easy,” said a top board official. “He can now count his days. We cannot stoop to his level but we will give him a fitting reply,” an angry board official added.

Manohar wondered what the IPL commissioner was doing for the last three years.

“Modi, in his Twitter account, posted details of the Kochi franchise. On the basis of that media pounced on him seeking to know why he did not disclose details pertaining to the existing eight teams. The question is why Mr Modi did not disclose this for three years when the documents of these teams have been available with him since 2007,” Manohar was quoted as saying by a news agency.