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MPs demand Parliament investigation of IPL

Opposition MPs in the Indian Parliament have demanded a Parliamentary probe, into the allegations that have been swirling around since the story broke a fortnight ago

Cricinfo staff
23-Apr-2010
Is Lalit Modi going to move court seeking a stay on Monday's IPL governing council meet?  •  Associated Press

Is Lalit Modi going to move court seeking a stay on Monday's IPL governing council meet?  •  Associated Press

A potentially significant day in the IPL controversy saga has begun on a stormy note as opposition MPs in the Indian Parliament demanding a Parliamentary probe, in addition to the investigations currently being carried out by government agencies, into the allegations that have been swirling around since the story broke a fortnight ago.
The afternoon saw IPL CEO Sundar Raman at the income-tax offices in Mumbai, where he was due to submit to income-tax officials documents relating to the ownership details of the eight original franchises. In the evening the league will host its 2010 tournament awards, where the BCCI's top officials are expected to be present.
There are also reports that at some point on Friday, Lalit Modi, the IPL commissioner, will move court seeking a stay on the governing council meeting scheduled for Monday. Modi, though, told Cricinfo such reports were "rubbish".
In the lower house of Parliament, Opposition members sought a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), comprising MPs, to investigate the alleged irregularities in the league. In response the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee, said a decision on it would be taken after "due diligence".
"In these matters everything has to be done with due deliberations. It cannot be instant coffee. I have noted the suggestions of the honourable members and it will be communicated to the Prime Minister," Mukherjee said.
The matter was raised by the leader of the opposition, Sushma Swaraj, who alleged that the Government was protecting leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and demanded that an investigation be ordered into the entire controversy. The NCP is headed by Sharad Pawar, the ICC's president-elect and federal agriculture minister; another leader is the aviation minister Praful Patel, whose daughter is an IPL employee and whose office forwarded a mail to former minister Shashi Tharoor containing information on franchise valuations.
"The Government may not conduct an impartial inquiry as they want to save their coalition. We need a JPC to investigate this," Swaraj said.
She also raised an issue reported in Friday's papers, where Patel's daughter allegedly used her father's clout to force Air India, the government-owned airline, to cancel a scheduled Delhi-Coimbatore flight and instead used the plane for a chartered flight to ferry IPL guests from Chandigarh to Chennai.
Swaraj was supported by other MPs including Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, who said that ministers must be accountable for their actions, and Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta.
The House was adjourned when MPs continued to demand an investigation, after which Mukherjee discussed with other ministers the issue of setting up of a JPC.