Rajiv Shukla denies holding of IPL meeting in Dharamsala

New Delhi, Apr 17 (ANI): The Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI), on Saturday refuted claims that a meeting of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) Governing Council was held in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamsala on Friday evening.

Speaking to media here the BCCI's spokesperson Rajeev Shukla clarified that office-bearers were present at Dharamsala only to inaugurate a stadium.

"As far as Dharamsala is concerned, there was no meeting, formal or informal, of IPL Governing Council. Since the stadium had to be inaugurated, all the office-bearers of BCCI and prominent people had gone there," Shuka said.

"When these people meet they keep on chatting, interaction takes place. But any meeting of the Governing Council, a formal or informal discussion on these did not take place," he added.

It has been alleged that the Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor has an indirect stake in the new Kochi IPL franchise, which represents his home state of Kerala.

The IPL chairman Lalit Modi, revealed on his Twitter feed that Tharoor had advised the IPL management against disclosing the name of Dubai-based businessperson Sunanda Pushkar, who is a close associate of Tharoor, as one of the co-owners of the team.

Tharoor, has denied any wrongdoing in awarding a tender for the cricket team, saying he was only a "mentor" for the winning consortium because the team was based in his home-state. (ANI)