New Delhi, April 20 (Inditop.com Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel Tuesday rejected media reports alleging his involvement in the IPL controversy, and accused “a section of the Congress of spreading a slanderous campaign” against him.
Patel, who is also general secretary of the NCP, denied reports that he was a “proxy owner” of an Indian Premier League team.
“I do not have anything to do with cricket, IPL, BCCI (Board for Control of Cricket in India) or the bidding process. There is no question of holding any kind of stake,” Patel told NDTV news channel.
Some media reports had said two central ministers were involved in the cash-rich IPL, which opposition parties have described as “gambling” and a place for all wrongdoings, including money laundering and betting.
Speaking to reporters outside Pparliament House, Patel said: “The Congress party per se is not involved in the controversy, but a section of it is spreading a slanderous campaign against me.”
Welcoming the government’s decision for a probe into the funding of IPL, Patel said: “I am happy the government has ordered a probe into it, and now the truth will come out. I have nothing to do with IPL, this I can assure you.”
He told NDTV that his daughter works as a junior intern with the IPL. “That’s the extent of my involvement,” Patel said.
Denying his and party chief Sharad Pawar’s links with the Adani Group of Ahmedabad or the Videocon group from Pune, Patel said: “Anyway they didn’t win the bids… If we were so powerful, they would have got the teams.”
Reports said the two NCP leaders supported the two business groups that lost the bids last month for two new franchises – Kochi and Pune.
Earlier in the day, NCP leader and daughter of Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule said her family had nothing to do with the controversy and termed as untrue allegations that Praful Patel was also involved in the IPL franchise business.
