Modi rejects Kochi charge,to sue

Terming as rubbish the charge,Modi told PTI: Are they mad? Who will offer them what they say Rs 200 crore. I will take legal recourse. I am awaiting the clippings (in which Gaikwad had made allegation). Once I have that,I will serve them legal notice… possibly tomorrow, he said.

Hours after Modi told a press conference that there was a question mark over the owners of the Kochi franchise,Gaikwad hit back,saying that they were being deliberately made to go through a tough time because they refused the offer.

We went through the process in the right manner and won the bid. But within 10 days of winning the bid,Modi offered us $50 million to give away the rights of the IPL franchise, Gaikwad told PTI.

Gaikwad said the franchise was being targeted because it outbid some big business houses whom Modi allegedly wanted to rope in for the subsequent editions of IPL. We are being put to an unnecessary process and the reasons are obvious. If we did not have all the papers in place how could we win the bid. It is unfair now to make us go through these problems, he said.

Modi,on the other hand,wondered as to why I will offer them the money… the bid had gone for a good sum,and dared Gaikwad to prove the allegations.

Allegations from Rendezvous,which has given a 18 per cent share of its 25 per cent equity in Kochi Team to Sunanda Pushkar a friend of Tharoor,came within days of Modi divulging the names of stakeholders in Kochi Team.