IPL Volcano on Iceland of Excellence As the cricketing world was glued to the TV screens for Twenty20 cricket matches of Indian Premier League (IPL), a few sparks flew off from Lalit Modi’s tweets on holdings of franchisees of teams and a whole volcano erupted engulfing the political establishment and setting house of Lalit Modi himself on fire. First casualty was seemingly unconnected high profile Minister of State for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor. No one expected it to happen so swiftly. But Congress could not stomach another embarrassment from Shashi Tharoor and decided to protect its turf in parliament in the interest of the important bills like finance bill due to be passed during the current session. Shahshi Tharoor may have been all innocent as he claims but under the political quagmire he has to prove that hypothesis. His style and substance may be excellent but has to adapt to Indian political hues & shades. One certainly can not write him off as yet. But it is time of retrospection for him. Sunanda angle could drag him into controversy and cost dearly. But will it? Congress & versions of UPA have shown stomach to digest much bigger scandals and controversies in the past. From Bofors, Quattrochi, fodder scam of Lalu Yadav, Shibu Soren in different avatars including bribes for survival of Narsimha Rao government, 3G spectrum of Raja in UPA I, to Sajjan Kumar & Jagdish Tytler in sikh riots case. So one can at best say that exit of Shashi Tharoor is a tactical one till he is cleared by concerned agencies and he convinces the high command of his ability to switch off the hifi style and fall in line with Indian politicians (read cattle class). Then comes Lalit Modi, the IPL Commissioner, who is on the hit list of BCCI bosses. Modi has been in lime light since his ouster from Rajasthan Cricket Association and current successes of IPL season. IPL brand has become a billion dollar juggernaut capable of crushing anything which comes in its way due to the money power. No doubt Lalit Modi contributed significantly to the building the brand and the business model which has become extremely successful filling the coffers of cricketing establishment as well as the electronic media and advertising agencies. It is this success which has attracted the friends & foes of Lalit Modi alike to the beehive.
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