After Board of Control for Cricket in India president Shashank Manohar's meeting with Sharad Pawar on Tuesday, it appears Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi will have to go.
Immediately after the two met for around two hours at his residence in Janpath, New Delhi, Pawar said a final decision on Modi continuing as IPL chief will be taken when the Governing Council meets on April 26.
"Manohar met me today and he briefed me about the situation. The IPL Governing Council will take a unanimous decision on Modi's resignation and, thereafter, we will take the required action," Union minister for agriculture Pawar told newspersons.
"The Governing Council will take the decision in the interest of cricket," he added, indicating Manohar will take over from Modi to avoid a showdown between the Government of India and BCCI.
Manohar was forced to rush to Delhi on Tuesday morning after Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee announced that the government would conduct a full scale probe into the financial dealings in the IPL.
Asked whether Modi will have to resign, he replied: "If the authority is vested with the Governing Council, neither Sharad Pawar nor Shashank Manohar is interested in interefering in the basic right of all the members.
"Don't forget, Mr Modi is also a vice-president of the BCCI and, with our total approach and past experience, we always take a collective and unanimous decision where everyone is party to, including Lalit Modi."
Earlier, sources revealed that Modi had asked for an extended period, but in all likelihood will quit after the IPL 3 ends on April 25.
A source close to the BCCI president told rediff.com that Mahohar dashed to Delhi to seek Pawar's support.
"Pawar has agreed to let Modi go, but on certain conditions. One is that Modi should be allowed to still be part of the IPL and not discarded for good. The BCCI president readily agreed to it," he said.
