The IPL Saga

The BCCI or the Board for control of Cricket in India which replaced Calcutta Cricket Association in the year 1928, as an umbrella organization responsible for coordinating the efforts to promote and manage cricketing activities in India, is a member of the International Cricket Council and therefore, has taken to role of being an umbrella organization of cricketing activities in India. BCCI however is not a government appointed agency and is registered as charitable society under Tamilnadu society registration act. The BCCI has 27 state organizations under five zones. BCCIs reported income in the year 2007-08 was around 1000.41 Crores, with a surplus of INR 303 Crores (1 Crore= 10 Million).Further BCCI has awarded the contract for telecast rights for matches in India 2006-2010 to Nimbus for 612 Mn USD (later reduced to 549Mn USD) , which was to expire on March, 31, 2010, and covered the telecast rights for 23 test matches and 54-56 one day matches. The Nimbus contract was further extended till 2014, for a consideration of around INR 2000 Crores, this extension was a closed deal as Nimbus, as per BCCI had first right of refusal. The Sahara sponsorship was extended by six month in december, 2009. The enormous riches of the BCCI came into public view with the public spat which saw Jagmohan Dalmiya removed from the role of the head of the BCCI through a 29-2 vote against, in december, 2006, after having conducted the world cup successfully and chairing the ICC for three years starting 1997. Around then, Sharad Pawar, who was the catalyst of the rout of Dalmiya, took charge of BCCI. While Dalmiya, started as a wicket-keeper in Bengal Cricket and had a double ton to his account in cricketing life, Pawar, is a quintessential politician. He has been in and out of Congress, having won the first election as a congress candidate in 1967 from Baramati as an MLA. Post-emergency in anti-indira wave he moved away from congress and became Chief Minister of Maharashtra as a coalition candidate. In 1978 congress regained power and formed government headed by A. R Antulay as Pawar returned to stake a claim as state president of congress in 1981. In 1984 he won his first lok sabha election from Baramati, and in 1988 again became chief minister to the state of Maharashtra. An ambitious politician and shrewd calculating opportunist to the core, Pawar in his another chief ministerial stint starting 1993, saw through blasts in Mumbai, and death of 114 tribal in Gowari Stampede in Nagpur, before yielding power to BJP-Shivsena combine in 1993. In 1999, Pawar with PA Sangma, launched the NCP, on the Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin issue, before coming back into fore as an coalition partner in 1999 election. Pawar entered the world of cricket in as BCCI chairman in the year 2005. With no cricketing background, Pawar has been running BCCI since then, through Shashank manohar since 2008, as Lalit Modi, bloomed under his stewardship and gave shape to the IPL, as the most successful sports extravaganza. 

Shashank Manohar, who was elevated to the position of the president of the BCCI when Paway re-vamped the BCCI, purging the Dalmiya faction, with Arun Jaitley, Shivlal yadav, Arindam Ganguly, Chirayu Amin and now beleaguered, Lalit Modi as Vice-president. He is by training a lawyer (son of the advocate general of Government of Maharashtra during the tenure of Pawar as the CM) and entered in the world of serious cricket administration as head of Vidarbha Cricket association. Shashank Manohar has his cricketing experience limited to a single first class match with a career average of 9 runs. 

Chirayu Amin, one of the vice-presidents has been appointed as the interim commissioner of the IPL governing council, place vacated by late-night suspension of Lalit Modi. Chirayu Amin is the head of Alembic and heads Baroda Cricket Association. 

The Board Secretary, N. Srinivasan, is Vice CMD of India Cements, and a chemical engineer by training, He has been twice elected as sheriff of the city of Chennai. As a chairman of India Cements, he is de-factor the franchise owner of Chennai Super Kings, this year winner of the IPL. He heads tamilnadu cricket association, chess association and golfing association, quite a multi-faceted interest in sports..

All these wise men, claim to have been totally ignorant to whatever Mr. Modi did under his tenure as commissioner of IPL. Looking by their background and history seems very unlikely. It seems more like a collective conspiracy, against individual entrepreneurship, with Modi being a fall guy as others quickly fall in like, scratching each others back, as UPA looks on NCP, which looks at Shashank Manohar, which looks at Srinivasan, Jaitley for once, seems to be at loss of words. I take out my Form-16 and start preparing my income tax returns, for the government can be blind for years to a Multi-crores scam, but they will find out my thousands, with great ease, with or without UID of Mr. Nilenkani.