Pawar asks Modi to quit as IPL chief

New Delhi: Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sharad Pawar has asked embattled Indian Premier League League Chairman Lalit Modi to send him his resignation saying that he will keep the letter with him, sources told CNN-IBN. The sources also claimed that the IPL Governing Council, scheduled to meet on April 26, could be postponed by four-five days.

Top BCCI official are holding an unofficial meeting at the board's office in Mumbai to discuss the pros and cons of Pawar's offer to give Modi an honourable exit.

Pawar also reportedly facilitated a telephonic conversation between Modi and BCCI President Shashank Manohar on Saturday. This is the first time Modi and Manohar spoke to each other in 15 days.

Manohar reportedly told Modi that there was no option left with him but to resign as IPL Chairman. Modi was also told to give an indication that he was ready to step down and if he didn't do so, the BCCI would go ahead with governing council meeting on April 26. Modi reportedly agreed to Pawar's and Manohar's compromise formula.

But Modi's troubles seem to be growing day by day. After seeing his friends desert him and being accused of being involved in financial irregularities, he has also been blamed for running a one-man show in the IPL.

BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla had written a letter to BCCI President Shashank Manohar in January raising questions over how Modi had not been taking IPL Governing Council into confidence over major decisions.

"There are serious issues about working of the IPL management. Members of Governing Council are not being taken into confidence. We are getting to know information through the media," Shulka wrote in the letter.

But interestingly the five-line letter has been strategically leaked just two days before the Governing Council meeting.

Meanwhile, Most of the BCCI members boycotted the glittering IPL awards ceremony on Friday night in Mumbai. Sources say they may also give Sunday's IPL finals a miss.

Modi, it seems, is also finding it difficult to survive the huge clean-up act. The IPL chief showed the first signs of hoisting the white flag on Friday after indicating that he wasn't keen on dragging the BCCI to court and urged the Board to grand him five days to prepare his cases for the defence.