LALIT MODI - From "Raja" of IPL to "Raju" (Ramalinga type) of IPL.

I had posted the above title on Facebook and a reaction was - why am I targeting Modi ? Is it because of my "friendship" to N Srinivasan (NS) ? - The answer is simple - I wish I was NS's friend - I am not .

I do know his brother and his Sammandhi , both of whom are in my Rotary Club - In fact I have seen/met him twice in the past 20 years - once , when he was the chief guest at the Inauguration of the "Mahesh memorial Cancer ward" at the cancer Institute , Adyar and the second time at the MCC club, when the Chennai Super Kings were felicitated. On both occasions we exchanged a smile and maybe a "hello" - there were more than 500 other guests present. If this can make him my friend - then , yes, I am his friend.

My brothers are Advocates by profession ( so too my son as was my father) . As we are not a joint family staying together etc - their clients/friends are not people I meet. My brothers are too professional to discuss anything concerning their business with me.

They like all in the family are Cricket Lovers and they have played League cricket , indeed one of them as the Secretary of a Team has been in the TNCA for more than a decade - he is currently the vice President there. Still it does not make NS or anyone else from any Cricket Body "my" friend. It is as absurd as saying that a colleague of mine say -Mr Delhi Ganesh is a friend of my brother. I preface all this so that my remarks are understood in the correct context and perspective.

1. Chennai Super Kings is NOT owned by N.Srinivasan. It is owned by India Cements. India cements is a Public limited Company founded by the family of Mr Sankaralinga Iyer as well as by Mr T S Narayanaswami ( NS's father) in 1946.

NS as an individual holds 0.05 % of the Share capital of the company - as the promoter family he and the other investment companies hold approximately 28 %. Please check out this document available if you google it as I did -

http://www.indiacements.co.in/shareholder_distribution.htm

IT IS SIGNIFICANT TO NOTE THAT MORE THAN 70% IS HELD BY THE PUBLIC, BANKS, F I I 'S ETC. So it is NOT an Individuals team or a private consortium like The Rajasthan Royals . Probably The Ambani's holding Mumbai Indians and the Mallya's in Royal Challengers are the other few totally transparent non overseas funded totally Indian team like the Chennai Super kings - maybe the Deccan chargers too but I have not studies them.

2. NS probably got the Board to change the rules to facilitate this purchase - whether that was done legally or not is being questioned by Shri A C Muthiah in his appeal to the Supreme Court - the matter being sub judice, it may not be correct to comment on that - Let me add that the lower court ( Madras high Court) has held in favor of NS and Shri ACM has gone on appeal. Let us await the verdict. It is the very same ACM's father who, as Secretary of the BCCI registered it in Chennai as a Society - and today ACM's friend Lalit's advocates are stating this as an example to show that this is a personal fight between NS and Lalit. What is probably a personal fight is the ACM - NS one.

3. The charges against Lalit Modi are that he was involved in a "Criminal Conspiracy" and set about to defraud the BCCI. Times Now, the Channel gave a lot of details and compared him to Suresh Kalamadi - they did , not I . He is said to have been responsible for over 450 crores being diverted away from BCCI to himself ( ?) . Here too we find that a Criminal Complaint has been lodged and FIR filed.

On the other hand NS by paying money has contributed to the coffers of the BCCI. So there is no comparison - as some have sought to make. Simply put - NS gave while Lalit took.

Here i wish that you click on this link and check out what lalit said immediately after announcing the results of the bids in 2008 . http://www.rediff.com/money/2008/jan/24ipl1.htm

4. Many have said that the IPL was lalit's creation and concept and he was a genius etc....I question that statement too....

The IPL was the brain child of many many others - Many don't recall that Subhash Chandra of Zee TV started this as The Indian Cricket league. Incidentally he too was a client of my brother. Check this link for a history of this league whose Inaugural season was in 2007 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Cricket_League ) .

The Chennai Team was called the Chennai Superstars and had many like R Satish and Hemang Badani in it ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai_Superstars ). This was considered a rebel league and did not find support with the BCCI , hence failed.

The official version based on this model was started by the BCCI and Modi appointed its "head". To credit him with inventing this is as stupid as crediting Zee TV , for all this is based on the Cricket leagues overseas and they on the Professsional Football/Basketball/Baseball Leagues of the World.

MODI JUST TOOK IT FORWARD. MAYBE IF A PROFESSIONAL WAS APPOINTED WE COULD HAVE HAD A MUCH CLEANER, TRANSPARENT AND SCANDAL LESS IPL.

I am surprised how people can justify his actions by saying that after all "it was his baby". IT WAS NOT. Maybe if the BCCI had asked Subhash to continue its ICL and given it official sanction then all this would not have happened.

The credit to Modi is that he converted everything - including the time taken in between balls to an opportunity to make money.

I ask , what do you think the IPL would have become like had a Professional Sport promoter / event manager headed the show and Professional Marketing people Branded it.

I ask , how would the IPL have grown had say a Ratan Tata or a Nandan Neelankeni headed it, both being Industrialists with a spotless track record, been at the helm of affairs as a against a man whose track record for ethics is dubious to say the least. Indeed his background check seems to reveal many things like the typical Soap opera.

Many have said that none of the existing BCCI guys could have done it, bit they are all people who are running multi crore companies and it some case the country - they know how to hire the right people.....in this case they did not choose correctly. Wrong choice - or knowing who were at the helm of affairs then, maybe it was intentional. ? Creating Frankensteins is a policy too.

Finally , I am surprised that many a "Tamil" is questioning NS and in fact supporting Lalit.

It was the bold enterprise of NS that got us in Chennai a Team. I do not know if any other Tamil Nadu based consortium bir for this....maybe we would have been happier if a consortium of businessmen operating through a Caymen island holding company bought the franchise for "my city" - of course with the statutory 25% held by lalit modi.

People like Vijay Mallya had bid even for the Mumbai Team but lost to Ambani. He was not exclusively Loyal to Bengaluru, his home town but viewed this as a investment opportunity.

NS bid for HIS City, his State and bought the best players - making the Chennai Super kings , the most succesful Team in the 3 editions of the IPL.

Why then question the man who has worked to enhance the pride of every cricket lover from our State ?

Vijay Mallya is the Vice president of the KSCA and the CEO of Royal Chellengers - Brijesh Patel, the secretary of KSCA , I understand that Mr Mukesh ambani too is in a state Cricket association , people from these states are proud of "their man" - the Tamil will always be different....