No Election ads during matches - Political parties to miss on IPL popularity pie

New Delhi (PTI): Efforts of political parties to encash on the popularity of the IPL have suffered a setback with the league management making it amply clear that it will not allow telecast of any political advertisements during the second edition of the mega cricket event.

Chairman of BCCI's Finance Committee Rajeev Shukla said IPL Governing Council has decided to ban advertisements by political parties and there will not be any "rethinking" on the issue.

"The IPL Governing Council in its meeting in Goa decided not to entertain any political advertisements and we are not going to reconsider it," Mr. Shukla, also a member of the IPL Governing Council, told PTI here.

Mr. Shukla's comments came in response to reported efforts by major political parties to get the restrictions lifted on the telecast of political ads during the matches beginning April 18.

An official of the IPL broadcaster, Multi Screen Media, refused to comment on the development but admitted that it would definitely affect its revenue generation.

On whether a section of the Congress and BJP leaders had requested IPL to reconsider its decision, Mr. Shukla, also a Congress MP, said: "It was a unanimous decision and the BJP's Arun Jaitley was also present in the governing body meeting."

[credit : http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200904121607.htm]

No Security for IPL? Its a national shame - Jaitley

Ahmedabad: Pulling up the UPA government for not providing security to the IPL cricket matches, BJP national general secretary Arun Jaitley said that the Union government's move has raised serious doubts on the security of all public gatherings including festivals and other public events.

Speaking at the 'Friends of BJP' meet at Thakorebhai Desai hall at Law garden on Saturday, Jaitely supported Narendra Modi's stand of inviting IPL to Gujarat. He said, "Not providing security to the IPL matches is a national shame." Ridiculing the IPL venue shift to Britain as ridiculous, Jaitley questioned if public events like Navaratri too will organised on foreign soil. "India is now compared with Pakistan when the issue comes to organising sports events. Britain has already withdrawn from a badminton tournament to be held here," he stated.

"The Manmohan Singh-led UPA government has failed to take certain policies and decisions for the security and development of the country," he alleged. He said that immediately after slowdown set in these countries, USA and Britain took certain proactive actions to counter it, but that the UPA government failed to do so even when recession is knocking on our doors," Jaitely accused. Talking about the delimitation, Jaitley said, "Delimitation of the election constituencies has been done for the first time after 1971 and there is now 35 % population living in the urban areas.During the next delimitation exercise in 2026, urban areas will house over 50 to 60% population.
Therefore, prominent people will have to join in active politics for the development of country."

Coming down heavily on laws such as Tada and Pota as well as on matters of national security, Jaitely said, "Tada was misused upon farmers during the Chimanbhai Patel' regime and was repealed right after 1993 Mumbai bomb blast. The UPA government also repealed Pota even after terrorists attacked the parliament and Akshardham temple. The Congress is playing vote bank politics by sacrificing national security."

However, even while firing salvos on rival Congress, the BJP leader skirted on the party's own sticky issuesof Maya Kodnani and BJP's Hindutva agenda with the plea that the former is an issue between the SIT and the judiciary, while he ducked the latter stating: "If you want to create controversy, I can't help you."

[credit : http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1243559]

BJP politicising IPL : Congress

New Delhi : The Indian Political League has upstaged the Indian Premier League.

The country today witnessed the spectacle of seasoned politicians sparring over cricket and exposing in the process how deep politics has struck roots in sport.

Home minister P. Chidambaram today picked up the bat from where Narendra Modi, who dubbed the IPL shift a “national shame”, and Arun Jaitley, who found India “almost clubbed with Pakistan”, had left off last night. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also got hit by a few political boundaries.

Chidambaram said he felt compelled to respond to some “unwarranted” comments that obliquely criticised the central government and deserved “a rejoinder”.

On BCCI president Shashank Manohar’s suggestion that the government’s attitude forced the transfer, Chidambaram said: “If he was referring to the central government, the remark is entirely unwarranted. If Manohar was referring to the state governments alone, I would like to remind him that state governments are ultimately responsible for maintaining law and order and one has to respect the judgement made by the state governments.” The home minister said there was no “reason to add politics” to a “shrewd combination of sport and business”.

Then he went on to strike back at Modi. “The most provocative comment has, expectedly, come from Shri Narendra Modi. He has described the decision of the IPL to go out of the country as a ‘national shame’. What is a national shame? Most people think that the Gujarat communal riots were a national shame.”

Chidambaram also referred to “backroom wizards” — a not-so-subtle reminder about the intricacies of governance at a time Jaitley is not contesting elections. “Chief ministers are not backroom wizards; they have to take frontline responsibility for providing security,” he said.

Chidambaram then named Jaitley who wears the twin hats of politician and Delhi cricket board official. “I know that Mr Jaitley has a penchant for exaggeration, but… he seems to have gone overboard this time.” Jaitley later said Chidambaram should concentrate on “the job assigned to him”.

Politics has become so closely associated with cricket that suggestions have been going around that the IPL could still be held in India as the Congress and its ally NCP have more or less formalised a seat-sharing deal in Maharashtra.

[Credit : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090324/jsp/frontpage/story_10715502.jsp]