A lot of people raised eyebrows when RPG Group chief Sanjeev Goenka bought the Pune-based franchise for the next two seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL). As Sourav Ganguly co-owns an Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Atletico de Kolkata with Goenka, Harshvardhan Neotia and Utsav Parekh. The former Indian captain is also a member of the IPL Governing Council (GC). The deduction was rather easy to be made.
A few days ago, Gaguly had requested Goenka to invest in the game of cricket so that the game can be further developed.
Ganguly has been dropped into that conflict of interest situation again. But, BCCI president Shashank Manohar made it absolutely crystal clear to the media that Ganguly has nothing to do with any IPL team and has no conflict of interest.
"As far as I understand, Sourav Ganguly has no conflict of interest. If he would have been involved with any team (IPL), then it would have been a different case. But I think a lot of people are not understanding what conflict of interest means," BCCI president Shashank Manohar told reporters on Monday.
The BCCI chief also went on to explain it to the media what exactly the phrase 'conflict of interest means.' And manohar has taken some pretty strong decisions on this conflict of interest issue after he succeeded Jagmohan Dalmiya at the helm of the Board.
"Suppose I am a lawyer and I have a client. If that client later at some point gets associated with BCCI, how is it a conflict of interest? It can only be a conflict of interest if someone in his position shows bias. I think this is now being taken to an absurd level."
However, Manohar mentioned it to the media that this was his point of view on the current situation. If there is a complaint against Ganguly then it can always brought into the notice of recently appointed BCCI ombudsman Justice AP Shah.
Meanwhile, IPL got two new teams as a replacement to Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals. The two new franchises will be based out of Pune and Rajkot respectively. A player draft is getting ready so that the Pune and Rajkot get their hands on cricket stars for the next two seasons of the IPL. The trading window will open on the 15 December.
