'No plans to remove Modi as IPL chief'

Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday rubbished reports that he is part of the alleged campaign to remove Lalit Modi from the post of Indian Premier League commissioner.

A powerful lobby within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is bent on clipping Modi's wings and sources claimed that the move to remove Modi as the IPL commissioner and chairman is gaining momentum within the board.

"I have nothing to do about that. I have not said anything about it. I don't know who is spreading gossip about all this. I think whoever is putting my name in it is doing falsely," Abdullah said in New Delhi.

On being asked if he knows who is trying to dislodge Modi from the chair, he replied: "We are not replacing him. I am not replacing him. Who is replacing him, I don't know."

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister showered rich praise on Modi for turning the IPL into one of the most popular cricket tournaments in the world.

"I must compliment him for the IPL. It has done tremendous good to cricket and us all and particularly for small states who will be able to develop from the money that we get from IPL. We are building two international standard stadiums, One in Jammu and one in Kashmir," he said.

Although no BCCI official has spoken on the raging controversy, it is learnt that BCCI secretary N Srinivasan, known to be at loggerheads with Modi, is in the forefront of this campaign.