The Shock
When Rendezvous Sports consortium first won the bid for the Kochi IPL team, back in late March, there was jubilation around Kerala on getting an IPL franchise. I was a bit worried though. On the dias with Mr.Modi, Shailendra Gaekwad looked a bit out of sorts and there was a real lack of harmony on the stage.
Rendezvous had just upstaged fat bids from known entities like Adani and Videocon (who has suddenly hit a cash cow, the way they're spending money on ads) by bidding for the unfashioned Kochi city for a very fashionable $333.33. For that kind of money, they could've bought an NBA franchise!
There was a very clear feeling of surprise all across the board. Even in Kerala, where the local newspapers and channels normally latch on to anything even remotely Malayalee, the press had no clue this was coming. Looking through the previous days Malayala Manorama (which is very good at finding Malayalee connections to every damn thing) had not got wind of this bid. They had mentioned Adani, Videocon, Sahara and few others as the ones leading the fray.
The Awe
This was Shashi Tharoor's first ploy. And it worked wonders. It was quite obvious from the start of the woo-ing process of the IPL bid that Shashi Tharoor would be backing any bid that would come for the Kochi team. Initially, there was interest from the Malayalam Film industry through Mohan Lal and Priyadarsan. But when they gawked at the expected bid value and left the fray.
All was quiet up until the day of the bid.
It was only after the ruccus surrounding the bid had died down that people got to know who was behind the Rendezvous Group. And boy was that a surprise. The people were :
1. Elite Group -
A company from Kerala that had been running a diversified business with hardly anything to do with cricket. They have a cheesy website too.
2. Anchor Earth
The mother-ship of the Anchor Switches brand. They're based out of Gujrat/Mumbai.
3. Rosy Blue Diamond
Its a fairly large Diamond company based out Mumbai/Gujrat. They obviously had a lot of money! They potentially have a Dubai connection here.
4. Gaekwads
The name Rendezvous is theirs. They're a fairly big and not so scrupulous business house based out of Maharashtra and the ones with (possibly) the deepest pockets of them all.
5. Shri ram Ship Scrapping Company
What is this guy doing as part of the bid?!
There were others involved in the bid, like a few real estate developers, but thats another discussion entirely. No one was prepared for this kind of a bid coming from this motley bunch of business-men, not even Modi.
The big men of the BCCI, all politics no cricket here, weren't best pleased about it. I'm surprised Shashi Tharoor didn't get wind of this and contact Tehelka and pull off a candid camera stunt. Kerala has historically been a bad place for Indian Cricket - reputation wise. The match fixing scandals of 2000 were broken in the Taj Residency in Kochi.
Modi was a man shown in the media (till then) as a great businessman and smart fellow who got IPL to where it was at the time. Shashi Tharoor meanwhile had no friends in politics and had already been in the middle of a number of silly controversies. The timing of what was to be brought up couldn't have been better.
The Card
The media got wind (I wonder how) of a Ms.Sunanda Pushkar who Tharoor was to marry exactly in the middle of Dr.Manmohan Singh's tour of the Americas. Manmohan was the one who had earlier laughed off silly accusations against Tharoor in the "cattle-class" controversy. The leading man was away and the media had a week to have a field day. The pictures of Tharoor with Sunanda (which had magically been found only at that time) was quickly added on to the news that Sunanda had a "free equity" in Rendezvous Sports. Interesting that the usage was coined anew. I can't find any references to what "free equity" means. But the use of the word 'free' sent the media into a tizzy as they drew up situations where Sunanda was getting free money as a proxy for Tharoor. Well played Mr.Modi. Great tweet.
The reality of that situation is quite simple. Sunanda Pushkar was hired as the brand manager of the company and she was to get a share of any value added to the company as a result of her work. Its a common practice in start-up companies where you will have a part of your salary pegged to the overall performance of the company. The term is called "sweat equity".
It became quite clear that Modi was under tremendous pressure to kick the Kochi bid out with a view of bringing in a more lucrative state (like Gujrat?) into the fray. The PM wouldn't be able to support Tharoor much longer and he would have to step down. The news channels were quite literally baying for his blood. The less said about Times Now the better. But on his way out he brought to the notice of the Income Tax department that they haven't been doing their jobs right.
How could it be that in 3 years someone could buy a fleet of S-class Mercs and a private jet and NOT be investigated by the I-T department for wrongdoing? As it turns out there is (unsurprisingly) a web of inner dealings relating to IPL franchisees. The documents of which are all safely stowed away in Mr.Modi's house. Modi also owns part of the Rajasthan Royals franchisee through a benamee (proxy).
I really don't care if Kochi gets an IPL team or not. I'm just happy that the gang which runs this is getting investigated at least. I don't expect much to happen. Modi is strongly backed by the Pawar lobby and he'll probably be quietly moved to the side, only to be replaced by another. Before becoming the IPL chairman where was this Modi? Why getting jailed in the US. Where else :P
After all this shit and a very ordinary IPL s3. I have decided to watch only test cricket. It more fun and there is more GENUINE excitement. Not more forced DLF-shitbags.
