By IANS,
Kolkata: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Sunday alleged that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) central government had been a silent spectator to the irregularities in the Indian Premier League (IPL) since its inception.
“For the last three years, the central government has remained mum. Due to public pressure, the Income Tax department and other financial monitoring agencies have become very active recently,” the CPI-M’s Bengali mouthpiece Ganashakti said in an editorial.
“But the drive after three years of inertness has not been productive,” it added.
The daily alleged that the irregularities were limited to government and political influences in share transactions during the first phase.
“In the second phase, there are reports of illegal foreign deals regarding television rights. There are also allegations of illegal transactions of Rs.400 crore through an agency in Mauritius,” it said.
It alleged that names of two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ministers – Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel – and one former minister from the Congress, Shashi Tharoor, have got entangled in the mess.
The party demanded that a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) be immediately constituted to probe the entire matter.
“It is now clear before the people of the country that there has been economic wheeling-dealing in the name of cricket over the last three years. The central government also realises this now. Then why is it not accepting the demand for a JPC inquiry?” it asked.
The daily said such inquiries were impartial as the body comprises members from various parties.