Sharad Pawar in line of fire

A day after the spat over the IPL Kochi franchise claimed its first victim in Shashi Tharoor, who quit as minister of state for external affairs, Congress leaders on Monday started pointing a finger at Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Stung by Pawar’s intriguing silence during the episode, which caused Congress president Sonia Gandhi and prime minister Manmohan Singh unwarranted embarrassment, a section of the Congress now wants two senior Union ministers, belonging to an alliance partner supporting the UPA government, exposed. 

“Despite Pawar belonging to another party, both Gandhi and Singh always considered him an insider. Had he wanted, Pawar could have alerted both Gandhi and Singh about Tharoor’s role in IPL instead of allowing Modi to make the issue public,” highly-placed sources in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) said.

A section within the Congress is now aggressively petitioning home minister P Chidambaram and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee to continue the investigation into the IPL till every team’s membership and accounts (both known and benami) are made public.

According to a Union minister, “Primary investigations clearly point to the involvement of the two senior Union ministers belonging to an alliance partner supporting the UPA government. The authorities concerned will disclose their names at an appropriate time.”

Sources in the AICC also said the investigating agencies were trying to find out the nature of meetings that took place in the government departments of the suspect Union ministers.

However, there was note of caution from Congress leaders. “Gandhi and Singh are unanimous on taking the investigation to its logical end. But they have to be vigilant about alliance partners mobilising support across party lines to protect the vested interests of their respective parties and states,” a leader said.

In Mumbai, the NCP went on the defensive after being greeted by a flood of questions on the role of its party leaders in the IPL. A senior NCP leader argued, “It’s possible that Pawar never imagined things would come to this pass.” Nobody in the Congress, however, is willing to buy this logic given Pawar’s deep roots in the cricket world.

Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Monday was quick to clarify, “I have absolutely no knowledge about the IPL. I have not made any investments in it.”

In Delhi, deputy leader of Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde also exercised caution. Senior leader and overseas minister Vyalar Ravi, commenting on the IPL, said, “It has become a gambling game.”