21 March,2009 02:55 PM IST | | PTI
Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi today rubbished Rajasthan government's allegations that he deliberately shifted IPL matches out of the state, saying the accusations are baseless.
Reacting to Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal's allegations, Modi said Dhatiwal was misinformed about reasons for shifting IPL matches from Jaipur.
Modi said five IPL matches were to be held in Jaipur as per the first schedule, but the state government approved it with a rider that central paramilitary forces were needed to give sufficient security which was not possible as per the decision taken by the Union Home Ministry.
"The confirmation from the Rajasthan government had a rider - which advised the IPL that it would not be able to provide adequate security and would require support of the central paramilitary forces," Modi said.
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"The Honourable Minister has not been given all the facts of the case by his staff and is thus misinformed," Modi added.
Dhariwal had blamed Modi for acting against the state because he recently lost the election in the Rajasthan Cricket Association.
"Modi has pulled IPL out of Jaipur. We wanted only two out of six dates rescheduled," Dhariwal had said.
Modi said he had spoken to Rajasthan's Principal Home Secretary S N Tanvi and informed him that the state government would need to approve the schedule and do so without central paramilitary forces.
"Additionally, a meeting was also held in Mumbai with Rajasthan Cricket Association Secretary Ashok Ohri to discuss the matches in Jaipur, which further exemplifies that allegations are baseless," he said.
Pointing out that the IPL's second season schedule had since undergone "multiple iterations" and that they were "operating under severe constraints", Modi said it was unfair to call the shifting of matches from Jaipur a deliberate effort as the changes "have been necessitated".
"Furthermore, while expressing his anguish Dhariwal chose to use some adjectives against me which were quite unbecoming of a Minister. However, I will ignore the same simply because I do not wish to get into the politics of cricket," the IPL Commissioner said.
