Scotching speculation that a move is afoot to oust Indian Premier League chairman Lalit Modi from the post, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said he is doing an excellent job as the IPL chief and will continue till 2012.
"Somebody's fertile brain came up with the idea that Modi is being removed as the IPL chairman and a conspiracy is being hatched among myself, my secretary and treasurer and Farooq Abdullah," BCCI president Shashank Manohar said after the IPL Governing Council's meeting in Mumbai on Friday.
"I am very sorry to say that the picture being painted by the media people in their news reports and in their channels are absolutely baseless and false.
"Lalit Modi is doing an excellent job as the IPL chairman and commissioner. He is appointed by the general body till 2012 and there is no reason or power or authority in either of us to remove Modi," he said.
"There has to be some continuity and I want to make it clear that Modi will remain in the post till 2012 and nobody can remove him from that," Manohar added.
Modi's future as the chairman-cum-commissioner of the IPL looked uncertain after reports surfaced that key BCCI officials, including secretary N Srinivasan, were plotting to oust him from the management of the Twenty20 extravaganza, which is considered his brainchild.
Manohar's clarification, however, puts an end to all those surmises and makes it clear that Modi's job is safe till 2012.
