This Article is From Jun 05, 2010

Pawar not a part of my IPL bid, says Deshpande

New Delhi:
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The Managing Director of a company owned partly by Sharad Pawar says yes, he did use the company's name to bid for a team for the Indian Premier League (IPL).  However, Aniruddha Deshpande supports Pawar's version of events - that the bid was made "in a personal capacity" after the Board of City Corporation rejected Deshpande's proposal to bid for an IPL team. (Read: Pawar, daughter deny involvement in IPL bids; BJP slams Pawar)

Deshpande's bid of 1200 crores did not go through.  The Pune franchise was won by Sahara which paid close to 1700 crores for a cricket team.  

Here is what Deshpande told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Deshpande: I have denied this several times in the last few months and said that there is no involvement of the Pawar family in the entire bidding process.

NDTV: Can you explain to us in details who all were part of the consortium?

Deshpande: Actually, when we had bought the tender, it was in the name of the company. The board did not approve of us bidding and they just gave me a go-ahead to use the name of the company. But we formed a new consortium as Pune is building a state-of-the-art stadium and we wanted a team for Pune and had committed to the Maharashtra Cricket Association and Akkriti construction from Mumbai. We had 10 months time to get people on board in the consortium so that consumer industries get interested in the IPL because we needed the publicity.

NDTV: But do you think that there was an error on your part because you got the bid document? Mr Pawar has said that you have done it in your individual capacity.

Deshpande: I don't think there is an error.  If there was, we would have gone to the BCCI and would have told them that we needed a new document as the old document has to be scrapped. On the contrary, we were very transparent and copies of the resolution were given to all, so it was a very transparent process. If someone like Mr Pawar thought it was complicated, he wouldn't have allowed us to bid. It was all a very transparent process - like we were looking at an IPL team, we were looking at an MPL team... a larger team. I don't think any IPL team makes money today, so with the Maharashtra Cricket Association, it would have been a good sports tie-up - a good partnership, in a good stadium, in a new stadium with 50, 000 capacity, and the team would have made money.

NDTV: Why do think Mr Pawar's name is being dragged into this controversy?

Deshpande: I don't know why this is happening. He has already been elected as the International President and Indian cricket should support Mr Pawar... there must be some interest in defaming him.
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