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Pawar: Praful Patel, NCP not involved in IPL row

“We are unnecessarily being dragged into the controversy”

— Photo: PTI/ Vishal Kelkar

NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar outside his residence in Mumbai on Saturday.

RATNAGIRI: In the eye of the raging Indian Premier League (IPL) storm, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday rubbished the charge that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and his ministerial colleague Praful Patel were involved in any alleged wrongdoing relating to the T20 league.

“The NCP and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel have nothing to do with the Indian Premier League controversy,” Mr. Pawar told a party convention here.

“We are clean and have nothing to do with it. We welcome the inquiry instituted by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the IPL episode,” he said.

Mr. Pawar said no inquiry was conducted against Mr. Patel in this regard though Income Tax authorities had collected some papers from his office.

“The authorities never questioned Mr. Patel in this connection. Only some papers were collected from his office in New Delhi,” Mr. Pawar said, adding “we are unnecessarily being dragged into the controversy.”

An e-mail was sent from the office of Mr. Patel by his daughter Poorna, IPL's hospitality manager, to the former Union Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, regarding projections of evaluation of IPL franchises a couple of days before the auction of two new franchises — Pune and Kochi. — PTI

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