Just days ago,he said it would be on the lines of the Academy and BAFTA awards. But the IPL awards this evening,two days before the final,showed the increasing isolation of IPL chairman Lalit Modi within the BCCI with no senior member showing up. Only I S Bindra and Sunil Gavaskar from the governing council walked his red carpet at a hotel here tonight. The BCCI played down the absence of its key members. A governing council member said that with Parliament in session,a few members were busy. The members who couldnt make it to the awards had prior commitments. Besides,senior BCCI officials rarely attend such award functions, he said. Among BCCI members who were in Mumbai but didnt show up were BCCI president Shashank Manohar,secretary N Srinivasan and IPL co-chairman Niranjan Shah. Earlier in the day,Modi showed the first signs of a climbdown. Calling the April 26 governing council meeting illegal,he had even threatened to move court but there was no indication of such a step today. And later tonight,ICC president elect Sharad Pawar flew down to Mumbai to meet Modi. This,sources said,was meant to work out a negotiated settlement in the very public battle between the IPL chairman and the board. Meanwhile,reports suggested that Modi has asked for more time to present his case at the governing council meeting. I have worked for you for five years . Give me just five days to prepare answers to all the questions, Modi is understood to have communicated to the BCCI.
