Will co-ordinate with Centre on IPL scam: Asim

KOLKATA: West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta has said that there was a need to co-ordinate action taken against alleged offenders in the IPL scam.

“The state government was perhaps one of the first to start a probe into IPL affairs. Income-tax is a subject in the union list. We have nothing to do with it. But we will co-ordinate our action with those of the Centre at every step since this is a much bigger national issue.”

He also indicated the need to address a larger issue of whether or not to retain IPL. “We need to debate whether or not to retain the ‘IPL form of cricket with its alleged link to economic crimes.”

Sports minister and CPM leader Kanti Ganguly too was not ready to consider IPL as a sports event. “IPL is not a sports event at all. I think there is more of an element of entertainment in IPL matches. The game of cricket has been given secondary importance.”

The state leaders reiterated that it was among the first to raise questions about some aspects of IPL. Fire services minister Pratim Chatterjee said he had turned down the plea by the IPL organisers to construct a special podium inside the Eden Gardens.

“IPL managers had thought that they would be able to do whatever they like by using their money power. But we prevented them from carrying out an illegal construction inside the Eden Gardens much before the IPL controversy broke out.”

KKR team director Joy Bhattacharya: “They (investigators) are here to do their job. And, they are absolutely free to do their duty. We have no issues. We have nothing to hide. We will co-operate with them at every stage.”

Parties cutting across the political spectrum have voiced their sense of outrage over the IPL mess and called for a thorough probe.