There's no conflict of interest for Sourav Ganguly: BCCI president Shashank Manohar
New Delhi: BCCI president Shashank Manohar on Tuesday said that there is no 'conflict of interest' as far as former India captain Sourav Ganguly is concerned.
After industrialist Sanjeev Goenka's company New Rising bought the bid for Pune team, questions on potential conflict of interest were raised as Ganguly is a Governing Council member as well as co-owner of Indian Super League (ISL) football team Atletico de Kolkata. One of the ATK owners is Sanjeev Goenka.
IPL: Ninth edition from April 9 with Rajkot and Pune as new teams
"As far as I understand, Sourav Ganguly has no conflict of interest. If he would have been involved with any team (IPL), then it would have been a different case. But I think a lot of people are not understanding what conflict of interest means," BCCI president Manohar said.
"Suppose I am lawyer and I have a client. If that client later at some point gets associated with BCCI, how is it a conflict of interest? It can only be a conflict of interest if someone in his position shows bias. I think this is now being taken to an absurd level," Manohar said.
However he said that this is his view and now that BCCI has appointed an independent ombudsman (Retd Justice AP Shah), he will decide on what are the potential cases of conflict of interest.
He also said that he has spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis regarding the issue of having a tie-up with the police as "they have the powers to intercept calls and arrest if necessary from any part of the country."
"If required we are ready to pay an amount," Manohar said.
Even another Governing Council member and Maharashtra Cricket Association supremo Ajay Shirke was asked questions whether his presence would be looked as a conflict of interest.
"I don't think so. Please explain where the conflict of interest is. Yes, tomorrow if I write to the BCCI president asking Pune franchise to continue beyond two years, that could be the case of Conflict of Interest in my capacity as Maharashtra Cricket Association president," Shirke told the reporter in New Delhi on Tuesday.
