With the Gujarat lobby holding 73 per cent stake in the IPL Kochi franchise, a shift to Gujarat could be on the cards, says a Mid Day report.
Minutes after Shashi Tharoor handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday night, the buzz surrounding the IPL's Kochi franchise heading to Ahmedabad gained solid ground, says the report.
Senior IPL Kochi officials fear that the main investors in the Rendezvous Sports World consortium may move to Ahmedabad, as the major investors Rosy Blue Diamond, Anchor Earth and Shriram Shipping Vessels holding a total stake of 73 percent are from Gujarat. And to add to that, the sole Keralite investor in the consortium, Vivek Venugopal, from the family of Elite Group and Medimix, holds only one per cent stake in the franchise.
"Investors need political support and after Tharoor's resignation, this would be possible if the team moved to Ahmedabad. However sources close to IPL Kochi are still confident that if Tharoor manages to convince the investors and put his weight behind the IPL Kochi team, things may still be changed," said Praveen Ram, a senior party official from Thiruvananthapuram.
Reports of a possible shift to Ahmedabad had earlier gained momentum after Union Agriculture Minister and ICC President elect, Sharad Pawar revealed on Thursday that as many as five members of the Kochi consortium had approached him and sought his help to transfer the Kochi team to Ahmedabad.
Pawar declined to name the investors, but added that he advised them against shifting out of Kochi.
Moments before Tharoor handed over his resignation, he spoke to his office bearer in Thiruvananthapuram, wherein the minister, said, "I will go with the party decision. The party did not ask for my resignation yet and if they did, I will resign."
According to party officials, Tharoor will remain a Member of Parliament and will spend more time in Kerala. "As a Parliamentarian he will have more time to stand for and fight for things he believed in. He will ensure that as an MP he would do everything possible to see to it that the IPL Kochi team is not sabotaged," added Ram.
"As a minister he had restrictions to ask questions pertaining to IPL and its selection procedure, which he can now ask. This would be one of his priorities," the official added.
Also Tharoor will now be able to play a more active role in Kerala politics, especially with the municipal elections scheduled for the end of this year, and the Assembly elections in 2011. "In Kerala, the Congress is split into many groups and Tharoor's entry will be a game changer. This could help create new equations and power strengthens," said a Congress leader.
Sunday was a day full of drama. Firstly, with Sunanda Pushkar giving up her stake in the Kochi franchise, and later in the evening Shashi Tharoor submitted his resignation to the Prime Minister. According to officials, the Rendezvous Sports World management held a meeting in a five star hotel in Mumbai yesterday, which was attended by CEO T Keshav, co-CEO Shailendra Gaikwad and consortium partner Vivek Venugopal. During the course of the meeting it was agreed upon to accept Sunanda's decision to quit from the IPL Kochi team.
Sunanda's 4.7% share of the total 25% free sweat equity, shared with 7 others, was at the center of the storm. The management decided to pay all the eight members a consolidated salary instead of the free sweat equity. However, the salary component worked out to nearly 40% lesser than the equity stake in IPL Kochi, which was to yield revenue only after 5 years.
"She (Sunanda) is upset and not in a frame of mind to be associated with the Kochi team. If the investors pay her a monthly salary, she would be obliged to stick to the contract of being with the team for 10 years," said a senior official of IPL Kochi.
Sources revealed that Sunanda was under tremendous pressure as the media probed her personal and professional life. Sunanda, who is currently based in Dubai, was also upset that the media was calling her close friends and business associates based in Dubai inquiring about her.
