In a bid to tie up support for the Kochi consortium ahead of the aborted March 7 bidding, the group had approached industrialists Pawan Munjal and Rahul Bajaj in order to get the backing of a $1 billion dollar net worth entity, reports Times of India.
A former India captain, who has already been in the news for his involvement with the Kochi investors, approached Shishir Bajaj, the younger brother of Rahul Bajaj of Bajaj Auto. The consortium also approached Pawan Munjal of Hero Honda Motors but both the businessmen are understood to have declined joining the bidding for two new IPL teams.
Sources said the Kochi consortium's moves had the backing of former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor who was trying to help the group find the backing of a group that would allow them to meet the stiff $1 billion net worth conditionality. Finally, the group found the backing of Jaypee group's J P Gaur but the bid was rejected for being submitted late.
In another attempt to rope in Rahul Bajaj, an industrialist is understood to have spoken to NCP chief Sharad Pawar. The NCP leader, known to be a friend of Bajaj, reportedly told the interlocutor that he did not think that the businessman would be interested in an IPL venture. As the March 7 bidding was finally cancelled, the Kochi consortium was able to submit a bid on its own.
The aborted bids of the two groups who were the only ones to qualify for the March 7 round have been subject to intense speculation. I-T officers who visited the IPL offices in Mumbai on April 15 were insistent that they wanted papers relating to the two bids apart from the five that were offered on March 21.
After a search, the BCCI lawyer present at the spot said the papers could not be found. IPL chief Lalit Modi said he was reaching the offices but even later the bids were reported to be missing, the TOI report said.
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