[NADALA]

Apr 20, 2010

Minister fired over scandal
Tharoor linked to free equity for companion

By Ravi Velloor, South Asia Bureau Chief



India's flamboyant junior foreign minister has been fired after getting tangled in a scandal involving a potentially lucrative cricket franchise, as the ruling Congress party tried to limit the damage from the scandal. -- PHOTO: AP

NEW DELHI - INDIA'S flamboyant junior foreign minister has been fired after getting tangled in a scandal involving a potentially lucrative cricket franchise, as the ruling Congress party tried to limit the damage from the scandal.

Mr Shashi Tharoor, 54, who parlayed an unsuccessful bid for the post of United Nations secretary-general into a political career at home, quit late on Sunday night. He had been summoned to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence after Congress elders, including party chief Sonia Gandhi, met for several hours to forge a strategy to deal with strong opposition demands for his immediate departure.

The Congress has been on the back foot since Mr Lalit Modi, the boss of cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL), revealed via Twitter that a woman named Sunanda Pushkar had been given free equity in a consortium that bid successfully to raise Team Kochi. The group, led by Rendezvous Sports World, clinched one of two new franchises that the IPL had opened for bidding, raising the number of teams participating to 10.

Ms Pushkar's stake was worth an estimated US$5 million (S$7 million). The news was explosive because cricket in India is now a business running into billions of dollars and the IPL fathered by Mr Modi, 46, has been rated a spectacular success in drawing prime-time viewership. The IPL is run by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has a near monopoly on the sport.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.
velloor@sph.com.sg