THE rajasthan royal

From 2005 to 2009,as president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA),Modi exacted his revenge. At least four bureaucrats (IAS and IPS) were allegedly pushed and roughed up and many more verbally abused,usually before,after and during international matches in Jaipur. But such is Modi’s hold on the establishment that till date,few dare to speak up about him,fearing his return to Rajasthan where his rise to power began.

But his very rise to power has been in question,with a string of court cases against Modi’s triumphant victory to the post of RCA president in February 2005.

Kishore Rungta,whose clan controlled cricket in Rajasthan for 30 years,claims it is not the end,but the means that irked him. “With the power of Vasundhara Raje’s government behind him,a new law,the Rajasthan Sports Act,was created in 2005,which changed the structure of all sports associations and their elections,” says Rungta.

Before the Act was framed,RCA elections included votes of 32 district associations and 66 individual members. The new Act nullified votes of these 66 members and that,says Rungta,paved the way for Modi to become president of the RCA. It was this position in the RCA that secured Modi his post in the BCCI and later the IPL.

“I have filed applications in the Supreme Court against Modi’s nomination to the 2005 RCA elections. He was convicted of possessing drugs in the US and that made him ineligible to contest,” he says.

Modi’s run as president of the RCA was not without controversies. His detractors claim that Modi arm-twisted the state’s 32 district associations with ease and with help from the state machinery.

Rajasthan State Sports Council chairperson Shiv Charan Mali says the Sawai Man Singh Stadium,the venue for all international and IPL matches in Jaipur,was renovated at a cost of close to Rs 25 crore. “The stadium was renovated and developed without any tender notice and completely at Modi’s will. Anybody else could have built a new stadium altogether with that money,” says Mali.

Incidentally,Mali was forced to withdraw from the December 2009 RCA elections to ‘favour’ union minister C.P. Joshi,who went on to defeat Modi for the post of president.

Modi’s supporters claim he brought about changes in Rajasthan cricket for the first time in 30 years—turning the Sawai Man Singh ground into a world-class stadium,sprucing up cricket offices and,most importantly,bringing IPL to Rajasthan.

However,Rungta is quick to pounce on this. “His claim to fame is the Rajasthan Royals. Reports claim his family has stake in the team,but from the team to the management,there is nobody from Rajasthan,” he says.

He adds that after Modi took over,local matches and tourneys ceased to exist and Modi rarely visited district venues. “He was here only for international matches and the IPL. I doubt he will be able to name even 10 local cricketers,” he challenges.

Though Modi became famous,and now infamous,for changing the face of Indian cricket with the IPL,the commissioner is known for his run-ins outside cricket in Rajasthan.

Modi,his politics

Modi’s detractors attribute his meteoric rise to Raje.

In the run-up to the state assembly elections in 2008 and then the parliamentary elections that followed six months later,Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot chose to target Lalit Modi. In every election speech where Gehlot talked about Raje and alleged corruption,Modi found a mention.

At a press conference last week,Gehlot went so far as to assert that Modi and Raje operated hand-in-glove in siphoning off money from Rajasthan. “BJP ministers,bureaucrats and politicians had to wait outside Modi’s hotel room for project clearances right through Raje’s five-year term in power in Rajasthan,” Gehlot said.

Soon after coming to power in 2008,Gehlot constituted a committee headed by a retired judge,N.N. Mathur,to look into allegations of corruption during Raje’s regime. However,a year after the Committee’s work,the High Court quashed it,deeming it illegal. Sources in the government say that several charges of corruption that the Mathur Committee was to look into could have involved Modi.

State police records show that Modi figures in at least six different cases,including fraud and forgery in Nagaur,the place from where Modi launched his cricket politics in the state.

Since Modi was not from Rajasthan,he couldn’t have contested the RCA elections in February without proving his domicile. So he acquired a plot of land in 2004 from Nagaur district association secretary RS Nandhu,allegedly with forged documents. Nagaur district panchayat samiti member Rupa Ram,who has lodged a complaint against Modi,claims it was this property that made Modi eligible to contest the RCA elections in February 2005. The case is under investigation.

There are other cases against Modi: showing disrespect to the national flag,embezzlement of funds meant for victims of the Jaipur blasts,misappropriation of funds in the 2007 World Cup and a corruption case,where Modi allegedly acquired heritage havelis on government property after showing them as private property.

Senior officials say Modi always kept lawyers by his side ready to provide him help. After every controversy in Rajasthan,Modi’s reply would be,“The charges are baseless. I am innocent.”