Modi gets Manohar's backing for IPL post

Lalit Modi will remain in charge of the IPL for the length of his term, BCCI president Shashank Manohar said on Thursday, calling all reports on his imminent ouster baseless and false. It was his first public statement on what has been a messy running battle in the media involving his two seniormost colleagues, Modi and N Srinivasan, the board secretary.

Manohar, speaking after a meeting of the IPL's governing council, departed from his usual terse style to deny any rift between the two. Someone with a "fertile brain', he said, had cooked up the idea that Modi was being removed as IPL chairman in a conspiracy being hatched by Manohar, Srinivasan , BCCI treasurer MP Pandove and Farooq Abdullah of the Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association.

"Modi is doing an excellent job as IPL commissioner and chairman," Manohar said. "He is appointed by the general body till 2012 and there is no reason and no power or authority with either of us to remove him."

Reports of strained relations between Srinivasan and Modi have been in the public domain for the past few days, fuelled by media "leaks" with both points of view. Most recent was a strongly-worded letter allegedly written by Modi to Srinivasan over the appointment of match observers during the ODI series against Australia in October-November.

When contacted at the time by Cricinfo, Modi did not deny the letter only saying, "We write to one another on many issues and these things are for internal consumption and not for the world at large."

The letter has Modi - chairman of the BCCI's tournament and fixtures committee - claiming he was kept in the dark over the appointments. ""As chairman, I should have been taken into confidence," the letter said.

It said that the committee meeting before the series had not discussed the issue, nor had it been on the agenda. Even then, it said, Srinivasan - as convenor of the meeting - could have corrected his mistake "through a conference call or circulation with the members".

It went on to say that Srinivasan's office was making decisions on "ad hoc" basis and asked for the BCCI secretary to include Modi's views at the board's next working committee meeting, in Mumbai on Friday.

The first rumbles came after Modi lost the elections to the president's post of the Rajasthan Cricket Associaton (RCA) on December 7. Media reports at the time suggested a threat to his position in the IPL - the BCCI, it was reported, was thinking of appointing its president as the ex-officio chairman of the lucrative league, relegating Modi to the role of a convenor.