IPL is a very valuable product and has taken Indian cricket to a very high level.

Billions of dollars being transacted in this event and every cricket lover loved this event. Lots of money is involved in IPL with big corporates investing in this product. Lalit Modi has done a great job to bring IPL to this level. IPL being an event which involves lot of money with no transparency had left lots of unanswered questions in the mind of every cricket lover. The amount of money received from the sponsors and other events are not made known to the public. After many allegations and controversies, many facts came out. Many politicians involved, unknown stake holders, some sweat equity stake holders, betting, match fixing, money laundering , scams, etc. Modi was even alleged to have offered US$ 50 million to the Kochi franchisee to go back and give the Franchisee to Ahmedabad. There are many questions in a common persons mind regarding IPL 1. How does the IPL Franchisees make money? 2. How much does Lalit Modi earns from IPL? 3. Why is the demand for Franchisee when the current IPL Franchisee says that they are losing money? 4. Who are the real owners of these IPL teams? 5. What is the money involved in these matches and who all are making the real money? 6. Are there any kind of betting or match fixing? 7. How are politicians involved in IPL? 8. Is there any tax benefit for IPL team owners?

Skeletons are supposedly tumbling as the income-tax authorities and investigative journalists with unnamed sources are probing the Indian Premier League. First, the easy targets. Match-fixing , for starters. Nobody seems to be asking who are involved. And where is any evidence to conclude the allegation to be prima facie worth investigating? Nobody is suggesting that Indian cricket is all clean. But it's easy to make wild allegations and claim immunity from having to prove anything as 'just about everybody knows' . Move to 'betting' . It is rumoured that thousands of crores are wagered on every single IPL match and that it is a transnational industry . What is, per se, wrong with betting other than the fact that it has not been legalised to collect some taxes? Betting on horses is legal. We have had single-digit lotteries conducted by state governments. Casinos are a rage world over. Instead of acknowledging our desire to gamble and providing a safe institutional machinery, we whine about it. Take the more serious allegations. The news channels have detailed break-ups of shareholding in various IPL franchisees and investment by various corporate entities registered in Mauritius, Cayman

Islands and other tax havens. This sure is an issue for the investigating agencies, specifically the Fema guys, to see if any of it is dirty money taken out of India in the first place and if any of the investment is benami unaccounted money of any Indian bigwig. A vast majority of investment in ICE companies (information, communication and entertainment companies ) and even more investment in realty companies of India are all from unverifiable companies based out of these tax havens. Are we even certain of the ownership of investment made in Indian secondary markets by all the FIIs? How many of these are owned, controlled and cross-controlled by a maze of shell companies based out of tax havens and represented by fronting companies in London or New York? If monies from tax havens are acceptable for stock market and realty investments, why not for IPL franchisee? If it is okay for people to invest unverifiable amounts in Bollywood, why not in IPL? If it is fine to control Indian skies and Indian TV networks through a maze of offshore shell companies, why should it be a sin to be invested in Indian Cricket?

NEW DELHI: The government is all set to add one more investigating agency to unearth the murky IPL saga with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) actively considering engaging its specialised arm, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), to probe the internal operations of the IPL franchises. This follows an internal finding by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) that the franchisees have not been transparent in their management and fund-raising. The RoCs, which were asked by the ministry to collect details about the team's ownership structure, managerial remuneration and the last three years' financial statements and returns, have found that the disclosures have not been appropriate, for which show-cause notices have been served upon two of the franchisees. "There are several missing links," a ministry official said, adding that the case merits a SFIOprobe.

Never before has a scam been enjoyed and celebrated by such a massive proportion of Indian people. Apart from the very poor in remote rural areas who have no access to television, everyone seems to have relished the fast-pace Twenty-20 cricket matches of the India Premier League (IPL), which finishes its third season with a final tomorrow (Sunday) blighted by massive allegations of corruption. India is of course a country of scams. To many abroad it is seen sentimentally as Mahatma Gandhis country of khadi cloth, good ethics, and care for the poor. To some it is an economic miracle and a future super power, while to others it is an unkind cruel place of caste, ethnic and rich-poor divisions and violence. Above all however, and not far below the surface, India is a maze of unethical, unlawful and illegal swindles that link most politicians, many bureaucrats, and a large number of businessmen and others.

It is scarcely surprising therefore that there is a scam surrounding the IPL, which has grown in just three years to a massive $4bn wealth-creating package of sponsorships, broadcasting and other franchises, fees and other takings. Cricket is not just a national sport in India but also a passion, and people have watched in awe as the rupee and dollar figures have grown to such an extent that over $300m has recently been bid for new franchises, raising the total from eight to ten teams.

. A lot of the IPL activity has been alleged in the past week or so to be unethical, unlawful and sometimes illegal. Politicians and others are said to be laundering black money via Mauritius and other tax havens which, though officially recognised, hide investors identities through shell companies and benami (false) names. There are suggestions that matches and bids for team franchises have been fixed, and that there have been bribes, tax evasion, illegal betting, and breaches of foreign investment rules. At the centre of the growth, and the controversy, is Lalit Modi (left), creator and chairman of the IPL and vice president of the highly politicised Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who is facing calls for his resignation [and was suspended on April 24] . Overlord of a national passion was the headline on a Financial Times profile of Modi two years ago. More details of his business career appeared in the Indias Mail Todaynewspaper a few days ago headlined Modi and controversy go a long way back. The national celebration of the lucky few getting rich in a poor country is one of Indias many curious contradictions. The poor have (up to a point) always admired the massive illicit personal wealth of some politicians, such as chief ministers Mayawati and Jayalalitha in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, because it shows what can be achieved from a deprived background. Similarly, the successes of the IPL organisers,

cricketers, and the business and film star cricket team owners, have been enjoyed as a symbol of hope for what might be, as well as a spectator sport (now switched to tracking the leaks and scandals). Earlier scams and political corruption have also been celebrated to a lesser extent, and some have even done the country good for a time. While stock market fraud primarily makes the price-fixers rich, it also benefits private investors and boosts company capitalisations, and the country has revelled when the Bombay Sensex has soared in past scams. Also, as an ex-army friend has reminded me, the Bofors gun at the centre of 1980s corruption allegations won India a border war with Pakistan at Kargil in 1999 though it has also stymied defence purchases for 20 years. This celebratory reaction probably partly explains why the workings of the IPL were not looked at earlier by the governments financial and criminal investigations agencies, nor the media, even though rumours of illicit deals and links between politicians and investors have been around for some time. It was just too big a tamasha (party), with too powerful hosts, to be interrupted. Club of friends As one of those involved said to Tehelka weekly news magazine last week, Its common knowledge that .politicians running across aviation, agriculture, road transport and the Opposition, are minting money and have undeclared stakes in every cricket pie. Last September, Outlook weekly news magazine noted that the IPL is largely a club of friends with mutual interests, and often conflicts of interest. The main reason for the lack of investigations is of course that, as in virtually all scams (not just in India), politicians are so deeply involved that few officials would dare start inquiries. And most of the Indian media does not begin to investigate until it is fed information.

. This suddenly came unstuck earlier this month because of the involvement of Sashi Tharoor (left), an ambitious former top United Nations official who last year became an MP and a gaffe-prone external affairs minister. Tharoor helped a consortium based in his home state of Kerala to bid for one of two new IPL franchises on offer this year, and a woman friend, Sunanda Pushkar, was promised a $15m sweat equity stake on account of future consultancy work. Known as Kochi, the consortium put in the highest bid of $333m, which apparently upset Lalit Modis plans for who should win. The consequential row went public on Twitterand exploded in the past two weeks into a scandal that has led to a stream of media leaks, presumably from the government and political parties and

mostly directed against Modi. There have been rows in parliament, tax and other raids, and calls for an official inquiry. Tharoor has been forced to resign from his ministers post, and Pushkar has given up her $15m. Companies involved Anyone looking at some of the leading businessmen and companies involved in the IPL would surely have noted long ago that virtually all of them are at the wrong end of Indias corporate respectability spectrum. There is Vijay Mallya of United Spirits and the Kingfisher beer and airline businesses, infrastructure operator GMR that has grown miraculously fast in recent years and grabbed massive land holdings along with airport franchises in Delhi and Hyderabad, and the secretive Subrata Roy of the Sahara group that is famous for its chit (small savings) fund and real estate activities. Also owning a team is Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries (RIL) who has been a strong Modi supporter from the beginning of the league. Those trying to win teams this year include commodity trader Adani, which has been in legal trouble over non-payment of customs dues and monopolising coal imports, and the Videocon electrical white goods and oil exploration company run by Venugopal Dhoot. Lalit Modi comes from the Delhi-based Modi family business group headed by his father, K.K.Modi. Lalit Modi was not regarded as a success until he started the IPL, and his earlier business ventures include a controversial lottery franchise in the north-eastern state of Manipur. Modis friends and relatives His relatives crop up as both IPL stakeholders and franchisees. His brother-in-law is a part-owner of the Rajasthan Royals team, which has several shell company investors plus Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, the international media tycoon. His step son-in-law, Gaurav Burman, runs Elephant Capital, a private equity company, along with brother Mohit Burman who is also an investor in the Kings XI Punjab team. Elephant has a stake in IPLs on line and broadcast licensee Global Cricket Ventures. (The Burman family control the Delhi-based Dabur health care and food company). Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politicians are deeply involved. Lalit Modi has close links with Vasundhara Raje, the BJPs former Rajasthan chief minister, which are now being challenged on the fringe of the IPL story by Congress politicians. Modi faced tax and other charges after Raje lost power last year. He has sought help from Narendra Modi (no relation), the BJP chief minister of Gujarat. Adani is based in Gujarat and Lalit Modi reportedly wanted it to win the Kochi bid that was secured by Tharoors Kochi team. Kochi was allegedly offered a $50m bribe to back off by Lalit Modi (who has denied the charge), so that Adani could take over. Patel and Pawar Praful Patel, Indias urbane but under-performing aviation minister, who I described as the governments Teflon man in an earlier blog, has also been a target of leaks to the media. He frequently issues

smooth denials of any problems, and of his own lack of responsibility for the worsening state of Air India and Indias over-crowded and potentially dangerous skies and airports. This week he was rebutting leaks by denying any involvement in the IPL, even though his 24-year old daughter works for the league and, with him, reportedly sent an e-mail to Tharoor about cricket teams potential profitability. Children should not be targeted, said Patel a few days ago. He is closely involved with Indias cricket in other ways because he is a senior member of the Nationalist Congress Party, which is led by Sharad Pawar, once one of Indias most powerful politicians but now a not very effective agriculture minister. Pawar is former president of the BCCI and is at the centre of a row over what should happen to Modi. He is in line to become president of the International Cricket Council. It is not clear whether Pawar and Patel are being targeted by the Congress Party as a warning not to upset the stability of the governing coalition, or by the opposition BJP to embarrass the government. A writer in the Indian Express the other day said that in many ways, the IPL is a confirmation of what India really is an emerging economy. He is correct. The scandal shows how far the country has to go before it can claim to have moved on from being under-developed in terms of market regulation and ethics. As the economy has been liberalised over the past 20 years, brilliant entrepreneurship has been generated, but unparalleled greed has grown at all levels of society. People from the top of the government down to a village headman use cronyism, patronage, bribery, coercion and generally low ethics to build status and wealth. That looks like continuing for generations because there are still some 700m or more people clambering to enter the economy and reap the benefits of new riches.

On the IPL, the current furore will no doubt lead to one or two resignations, but inquiries will be controlled to protect many of those involved. Some new regulations might be introduced to control the league. The flow of news leaks that is fuelling blanket media coverage will slow down soon and the fuss will almost certainly die away, maybe in a week of two, when it will be neatly swept from headlines by other news.

TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT AND MONEY MAKING

The formation of this tournament was bit surprise for me as the doubt increased on how tournament directors make money from such a tournament with spending millions of dollars to players from in and out of India. But Mr X narrated the way of making money from fixing tournaments.

INVESTORS IN TEAMS

After the withdrawal of Emergency in 1976, the political parties started minting money in various projects implemented in India. This became a fashion during the beginning of 1990s. When they get power, most of the major political parties including Congress, BJP, JanataDal, etc started making money through various processes like, Petrol Trades, buying Arms, ships, aircraft as a part of defense development, participating in World Health Organization projects, announcing relief funds for other poor countries, restructuring financial policies etc. ( Just take the statistics of all Scams that happened in past few years and see how much money earned by scammers. Unfortunately, not even 10% of that money returned to Indian authorities). Initially Honorable Ministers or their relatives in those departments were only generating money. But later political parties or their financial arms started using Ministers to make money and share with them. If in case these transactions come out in front of public, then these parties make those Ministers as Scapegoats and maintain their clean image. In India, not even a party is away from this. Some of you may support Left parties about their clean image, but they also learned the ways of making money through various projects as they are doing in Kerala and West Bengal. (Kerala Left Parties own three TV channels, Amusement parks etc.). The fixation of deals to make money from any of these projects is happening outside India. (Analyze and find the name of Ministers who had done many Foreign Trips either officially or personally and later got hit of Scams from back) There are agents who work similar to Event Management Companies to arrange meeting between corporate representatives and Ministers of India to fix the deals and to deposit the earned money in Swiss Banks. Not only individuals, but all parties own their own secret accounts that contain money earned in several illegal ways. Dont stare at me how this is related to IPL. Now, IPL is a major source for some individuals or parties to bring that money from Swiss banks to India for utilize it in investing in various business firms. NRI, Non resident Indian play an important role in this conversion. If we analyze the owners of IPL teams , then we can see huge NRI presence in shareholders.

Why NRI in IPL?

As per laws in India, an NRI can bring tons of money through his account to invest in India without any barrier or using some simple formalities. As you know, an NRI is defined as a person who has a valid visa in any other country and stay there for a minimum of ONE YEAR. Such Binami NRIs are available in Mauritius, Gulf countries, Canada, South Africa. Mauritius is top among these because an investing NRI in

Mauritius can bring huge amount of money from any Swiss Bank account to their operating account in Mauritius. Then the NRI transfer the money to India through his/her NRI bank account in India and invest in Indian business firms. Now, political leaders, Terrorist firms use such NRI to bring money to India and invest in IPL. Due to this IPL became an easy way to turn BLACK MONEY to WHITE. This process was not initiated by IPL. It was Indian Cricket League started this process. Later some politicians and prominent individuals found the scope of this process and initiated IPL.

OFFICIALS MAKING MONEY FROM IPL

Many politicians and individuals are interested to participate as team owners or share holders either directly or through Binami ( Byname) NRIs. The prime officials of IPL created a crystal clear way to earn money by providing opportunity for many Individuals to become the shareholders of teams. Mr X was pretty sure that this was happened in the case of Kochi team also. Why Mr Modi was interfering in Kochi team only? Mr X was suspecting Modi was not well respected in monetary measures by the team holders due to the support of another Giant, Mr Taroor. The bidding of advertisements, fixing of tournament venues, match telecasting rights are only some of those huge areas where IPL officials have great chance to make money. Police department is getting huge money as a part of security allowances. Remember the Bomb blast occurred in Bangalore, April 2010 and the semifinal venue was moved to Mumbai. After hearing all these, I suspected a scam in these bomb blasts also. Mr X gave me a data that showed a sudden huge increase in security expenses in Navi Mumbai when compared to Bangalore. Yes, I am thinking on the right way.

OWNERS AND PLAYERS MAKING MONEY FROM IPL

Match fixing and betting is not allowed in India. But many Indians are participating in betting for IPL through many online websites from Mauritius, UK, South Africa and Nigeria, where even Interpol can do nothing against betting people. Any one can participate in such betting using their credit cards and the earned money can be transferred to their overseas bank accounts.

What is the role of betting in fixing an IPL match?

Mr X said that betting rates will go high when two good teams clash each other. Say for example, Mumbai Indians had big chance against their rivals in a league match after their continuous victory over almost all teams in IPL 2010. Even though the total score was much less, Sachin Tendulkar went out of the crease due to injury and after that all of us saw the entire team collapsed in front of their rivals for a small score. Mr X was suspecting that the whole betting was in favor of MI, during the beginning hours and later one BULL may bet against MI that twisted the match result. Mr X told me to watch the match keenly and find the moments when a direction from dressing room will come to players. Suppose a team X is going to win according to the current form of playing batsmen. Immediately we can see somebody signals from the dressing room. Another player of the team will run to the ground as if to change bat, or new glove or sometimes with a bottle of water. You can see small murmuring happens between the playing batsmen and the player came from Dressing room (Pavilion). Within minutes, we will witness that the match will turn upside down. This is happening in all forms of cricket, even in international cricket also. Mr X, showed me some reports that says Cricket Control Boards in some countries are doing this business by them selves. (I dont know about India- BCCI) So, next time, please dont cry with Actor Shahrukh Khan when he weeps on the failure of KKR. May be he is earning double of prize money for losing a game.

WHO WILL WIN IPL 2010?

I was quite sure that Mumbai Indians will win the game after assessing their performances in the season. But Mr X says that the chances are more for the other team, CSK. Because of the fact that the betting from all over the world will be on MI, due to high probability of 60:40. At this scenario, once the match begins, some BULL BIDDER may come and bet against MI in low cost. But even if they fail, there is nothing to worry for MI or its owners and players as their bank accounts will be full of dollars.

The Indian Premier League (often abbreviated as IPL) is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. It was initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The scam is complicated to an extent that makes us doubt if IPL itself was created for money laundering.

People involved
Board of Control for Cricket in India
Lalit Modi, IPL Commissioner Srinivasan

Politicians
Sharad Pawar Supriya Sule Shashi Tharoor Praful Patel

Corporates
Multi Screen Media or Sony Entertainment Telivision World Sports Group International Management Group Raj Kundra

Bollywood
Shahrukh Khan Shilpa Shetty Preity Zinta

Scam
Money laundering
IPL is a major source for some individuals or parties to bring that money from Swiss banks to India for utilize it in investing in various business firms. NRI, Non resident Indian play an important role in this conversion. If we analyze the owners of IPL teams , then we can see huge NRI presence in shareholders. As per laws in India, an NRI can bring tons of money through his account to invest in India without any barrier or using some simple formalities. Mauritius is top among these because an investing NRI in Mauritius can bring huge amount

of money from any Swiss Bank account to their operating account in Mauritius. Then the NRI transfer the money to India through his/her NRI bank account in India and invest in Indian business firms. Due to this IPL became an easy way to turn BLACK MONEY to WHITE. The Income Tax department had received financial details of more than Rs 150 crore in overseas accounts from some tax haven countries of "non- residents" who invested in the IPL. The information regarding investments and remittances to the tune of about Rs 150 crore in IPL media rights has been received from British Virgin Islands and Mauritius.

Betting
Match fixing and betting is not allowed in India. But many Indians are participating in betting for IPL through many online websites from Mauritius, UK, South Africa and Nigeria, where even Interpol can do nothing against betting people. Any one can participate in such betting using their credit cards and the earned money can be transferred to their overseas bank accounts.

Shashi Tharoor-Sunanda Pushkar episode

It started when IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi revealed that Tharoor's friend (later his wife) Sunanda Pushkar had equity stakes in Rendezvous Sports World (RSW), heading the consortium that owns the Kochi team. It was later disclosed that Pushkar got sweat equity of the value of Rs 70 crore. Shashi Tharoor maintained that the amount had nothing to do with his active campaigning and mentoring for the Kochi team. This was less convincing as he had specifically mentioned that he had no specific gains from RSW winning Kochi Franchisee. The Prime minister Manmohan Singh later demanded his resignation.

Sharad Pawar family

Sharad Pawar and his immediate family held over 16% equity in one of the bidders for an IPL cricket team. The Pawars own 33.6 lakh shares (out of 2.07 crore shares) in City Corporation, a Pune-based construction company which bid Rs 1,176 crore for a franchise in March. The Pawar family's shares are held through two companies, Lap Finance and Consultancy Pvt Ltd and Namratta Film Enterprises Pvt Ltd, which are 100% owned by the NCP supremo and Union agriculture minister, his wife Pratibha and daughter Supriya Sule. Interestingly before the details emerged, Pawars claimed as miles away from IPL and bidding.

Match fixing

Income Tax investigation report into match-fixing angle in the IPL revealed Lalit Modi has interests in three teams. The report goes on to name Samir Thakral as front for Lalit Modi whose phone records show conversations with bookies. Serious investigations were on into possible match-fixing and betting in IPL Season 2 which took place in South Africa. The entire investigation now seems to be honing in on IPL 2. Income Tax investigation wing has filed a confidential report to the finance ministry. Several IPL players could have been involved. There were indications that phone conversations have also been recorded and that possible questioning of IPL players could happen in this regard.

Broadcast deal
In 2008, WSG bagged IPL television rights for 10 years with a USD 918 million bid and a promise to spend USD 108 million on the event. It also signed a deal with MSM making Sony the official broadcaster. However, two months before IPL-2, the deal was scrapped. It was recast with MSM agreeing to pay USD 1.63 billion for nine years. According to I-T sources, MSM agreed to pay WSG's offshore company in Mauritius a "facilitation fee" of 7.5 per cent of the IPL contract, which is around USD 80 million. On April 14, 2009, MSM remitted, from the Development Bank of Singapore to WSG USD 15.3 million and on June 26, 2009, USD 10.276 million in two separate installments.

Rajasthan Royals
Lalit Modi was accussed as having silent stake in Rajasthan Royals. The Enforcement Directorate had started enquiry about the FEMA violations. Suresh Chellaram from Nigeria, mentioned as "co-brother-in-law of Lalit Modi" who controls 25 per cent of the team, allegedly fronting for Modi. Chellaram is said to own 44.15% stake in EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius, through Tresco Internatonal Ltd based in British Virgin Islands. UK-based Manoj Badale who is alleged to be a Modi-aide, owns 32.4% through Emerging Media. Lachlan Murdoch, son of media baron Rupert Murdoch, owned Hong-Kong based Blue Water Estate, holds 11.7%. Bahamas-based Kuki Investments which is owned by Kundra family (Shilpa Shetty's in laws) holds another 11.7% stake in EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius. Rajasthan Royals is owned by Jaipur IPL Pvt Ltd, which is a wholly owned by EM Sporting Holding, Mauritius. Rajasthan Royals is apparently owned by Emerging Media Pvt Ltd, partly controlled by one Cayman Island Company and controlled by three different groups.Manoj Bedale, who has a

UK entity called Agylsis, Mumbai Education Trust in Mumbai and Ranjit Thakre ex-ITC employee. Rajasthan Royals were terminated by BCCI for alleged malpractices and ownership issues, but they could get a stay on the termination.

Cheergirls
According to a highly confidential income tax source, several high-class known (within Bollywood circles) call girls who call themselves actresses or models and C-grade actresses and models were allegedly hired or enlisted by a certain personality and his cronies now under investigation by a myriad of agencies within the IPL to provide sexual gratification to clients, sponsors, benefactors and patrons. CNN IBN, Headlines Today and Times Now reported that the IT department is investigating and looking into the monies paid to cheer leaders and others who added the glam component. The IT sleuths want to know who hired them, who paid them and how much was paid to them and for what kind of services. It has also come out that many of them were paid huge amounts in cash something that a body like the IPL should have never done. According to Flynn Remedios, author of the yet-to-be published IPLgate the mother of all Indian cricket scams, Apparently, it transpires that certain cheer leaders and glam dolls or sex dolls were paid far more than what any one would have paid a cheer leader.

Investigation
A multitude of agencies started investigation at the start of the scam. Nothing more to be heard

Prosecution
Nil, as of 24 Feb 2011

Conviction
Nil, as of 24 Feb 2011

The IPL controversy that was triggered off by Lalit Modi\'s allegations that Shashi Tharoor was unfairly influencing the Kochi team\'s bid is on in full swing. The Income Tax department, today, raided premises of all IPL franchise owners throughout the country, including those of the Deccan Chargers, owned by Hyderabad\'s E Venkatrami Reddy. In what turned out to be a full-fledged investigation, all important documents were taken and are now under scrutiny. Shah Rukh Khan\'s Kolkata Knight Riders offices were also turned over, and every document found was scanned by an army of I-T officials. India Cement (the owners of Chennai Super Kings) offices in Chennai were also raided and put under evaluation. Notices were also sent to Kings XI Punjab chiefs Preity Zinta, Ness Wadia and Mohit Burman, for their documents. The raids seemed systematic, and new leads are being followed to dig deeper into the IPL\'s deep and murky waters.

So much for being an interactive akashvani. As the sun set (for the time being, might we add) on Shashi Tharoors short-lived yet eventful political career on Sunday evening, many Congressmen must have found themselves saying good riddance. No more tweets about holy cows or frank discussions of Nehruvian era policies. Just about a year old in the grimy scene of Indian politics, the uber sophisticated Tharoor has, in a way, opened a debate about the New Vs the Old in the highest echelons of the Indian state in his highly dramatic exit. His last tweet as the Minister of State for External Affairs went thus: U (you) folks are the new India. We will "be the change" we wish to see in our country. And in an almost prophetic manner, he ended the tweet with: But not w'out (without) pain. The immediate reason for his quitting the ministry was not because of any tweeting- at least not his tweeting. He was perceived to be supporting the Kochi team for the flashy Indian Premier League and benefiting through a proxy who is going to be his third wife.

Regardless of the fact that he denied the charge on the floor of the Lok Sabha, the Congress decided to take this opportunity to get rid of the first timer, who was a United Nations diplomat for three decades and won an election from Thiruvananthapuram by one of the largest margins ever. The party, rightly so, did not want to waste Parliaments time over the matter. But, even if you are not one of the over seven lakh tweeple who follow Tharoor on the social networking site, you would know that the IPL controversy could only have been an excuse to silence a voice that had left the party and the government red faced on many occasions. Right at beginning of his tumultuous career, there was indication that Tharoor was a misfit in a rough, Machiavellian political discourse where appearance is all that seems to matter. Amidst Sonia Gandhis austerity drive, he was found to be living in a five star hotel as his official residence underwent modification. Despite living it up with his own money, he was publicly asked by the Finance Minister to relocate to the state guest house. It was embarrassing for the government no doubt as instructions had been given to all ministers to live as frugally as possible. We later saw pictures of an obliging and sleeping Tharoor, cramped in the economy class of a flier. A year later of course, the token drive has been rolled back. Tharoor vented his frustration by tweeting that he would travel cattle class in solidarity with all our holy cows! The PM, who supported him as Indias candidate for the top job at UN, brushed it aside saying it was a joke; the Congress did not find it funny. If political humour or sarcasm is a non-existent bone in our leaders, then dissidence within party ranks is an infected body part that needs surgical removal. So when Tharoor commented that the new visa policy post 26/11 would wean away the tourists and not the terrorists, the holy grail of being in quiet agreement with the government was broken by a union minister. It didnt really matter if the content or the intention were kosher; it was the very act of sticking out of the line that seemed to have disturbed the otherwise boringly placid SM Krishna, who is said to have ticked off his junior on the matter. It was just not propah. Being an MoS, Tharoor does not get to be a part of any Cabinet meetings and is, hence, deprived the proper platform to discuss his point of view. Moreover, one may argue that,

respecting disagreement is an article of faith for any flourishing democracy. Indeed, Tharoor sails in the same tech boat as President Obama as far as using Twitter to give information and express feelings is concerned. My tweets are kind of interactive akashvani, he recently declared. But then, the debate about transparency is far from its conclusion in this country what with Manmohan Singh and Sonia disagreeing on amending the Right to Information. Being a career diplomat, Tharoor should have known better. He was probably under the romantic notion of bringing in change a la Obama. His notions did not change till he made the final call with the PM and put in his papers. That is the most surprising part of this curious tale: Tharoor just didnt seem to learn. Or may be he wanted to persist. He went on to mildly criticize the holiest of cows and had to later shoot the messengerblaming media for inaccurate reporting. At a seminar, he called the world outlook of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru a moralistic commentary on world affairs. The party declared that Tharoor was supposed to spread the same outlook further and not badmouth it. It forgot what he reminded the presswallahs as damage control the next day: that it was merely an academic debate with intellectuals who understood Indias foreign policy. Now Tharoor does know a thing or two about foreign policy what with being the author of Reasons of State- his revered doctoral thesis at the Fletcher School where he became the youngest to get a doctorate at the age of 22 years. Still, he said in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia could be an interlocutor for India vis--vis Pakistan. That was sacrilege of course, and he, along with the UPA, was duly hauled over the coals by an enraged Opposition. Before the IPL financial irregularity shadow fell on his bright days, he was also accused of using his clout in forcing his ministry to buy 150 of his three titles- he won the Commonwealth Prize for one of the titles- for Indian missions around the world. The bash Shashi Tharoor brigade, the man himself christened his detractors thus, did not care to know that the order had been placed years before Tharoor entered the ministry. Tharoor had undoubtedly become an embarrassment for the government at home and abroad. But come to think of it, things more shameful and contradictory to the governments stance are routinely said by UPAs coalition partners. Unless these partners are weakened in votes, they are unlikely to be shown the door. So was the Tharoor tale a sorrowful saga of being a soft target and not being of a high enough station to call a spade a spade? As the man himself stated a few days ago, I would love to change that culture (where discussion is unwelcome) but I can't as an individual

start setting the pace. I don't have the rank or the authority or the background to be doing that. I think I should have been, in that sense, a little more restrained In the end, Tharoor may need reminding two old stories: one where an ant fights all odds and inspires a King to fight for what was right and the other where Kalidas is seen cutting the tree branch on which he was sitting. One cannot afford to give up on his ideals, but at the same time it is suicidal to act ignorantly. The tragedy is that the art is called diplomacy of which Tharoor was a reputed master.

another controversy over IPL as Kochi franchise alleged that Modi offered $50mn to Rendezvous sports to quit IPL. We were offered $50 million by Modi to withdraw from the Kochi team Shailendra Gaikwad, CEO of the franchise, alleged within hours of Mr. Modi telling reporters that there was a question mark over the owners of the new team. Rendezvous sports secured by a bid of Rs. 1,533 crore last month. We went through the process in the right manner and won the bid. But within 10 days of winning the bid, Mr. Modi offered us $50 million to give away the rights of the IPL franchise, Mr. Gaikwad said in a interview. On the other hand Modi said, Are they mad. Who will offer them Rs. 200 crore. I will take legal recourse. What ever it may be now "Indian Premier league" turned down to "Indian Paisa League"