Recently, news came that two new teams will now be included in the IPL, which will be from Lucknow and Ahmedabad, but now questions of conflict of interest are being raised against BCCI President Sourav Ganguly in this matter. This is because the owner of RPSG Ventures Limited, the bidder of the Lucknow team and the BCCI President is a co-owner of a football team (ATK Mohun Bagan). RPSG made a successful bid of Rs 7,090 crore for the Lucknow IPL franchise at the High Stakes Auction in Dubai.
Think of it as Indian Super League (ISL) football club ATK Mohun Bagan’s official website, Ganguly is a member of its board of directors, headed by Goenka.
“The team was owned by Kolkata Games and Sports Pvt Ltd. It includes former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, along with businessman Harshvardhan Neotia, Sanjeev Goenka and Utsav Parekh,” the website said.
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Speaking to The Indian Express on condition of anonymity, a senior BCCI member confirmed that it was “a clear case of conflict of interest”. “Ganguly is the Speaker, he needs to understand. This is not the first time he has been in this position,” the member said.
In an interview with CNBC TV18 on Tuesday, answering a question whether his association with Ganguly could raise a potential conflict of interest, Goenka said, “Well, I think he (Ganguly) is from Mohun Bagan. Going to be completely gone.”
Asked when that would happen, he said, “I guess today.” But Goenka then also said, “This announcement will be made by Sourav. Sorry, I told it earlier.” Till late Tuesday night, there was no official announcement from the former India cricket captain regarding his future with ATK Mohun Bagan.
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Even if Ganguly breaks away from the football club, his participation in the franchise auction process as BCCI president can be questioned, despite his football club’s link with a bidder.
This is not the first time that Ganguly has faced questions on conflict of interest. Last year, he wore a JSW Cement (Jindal Steel Works) T-shirt and posted an Instagram post as the company’s brand ambassador, saying “At Work” JSW Sports, a wing of business group JSW Group, IPL Delhi Capitals is a joint owner.
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