Sunanda Pushkar gives up IPL stake

 

PTI A file photo of Sunanda Pushkar

Dubai-based Sunanda Pushkar has given up her stake in the IPL Kochi franchise following a row involving her friend and Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, her lawyer said on Sunday.

Lawyer Ashish Mehta read out a statement to NDTV news channel saying Ms. Pushkar had “voluntarily” given up the sweat equity Rendezvous Sports World had offered her.

In the statement Ms. Sunanda has said she was shocked to find "certain vested interests" questioning her credentials and because of the "unpleasant publicity" she was opting out.

Ms. Sunanda further said, "as a woman professional, I am shocked to find how easily certain parties with vested interests, questioned my credentials mainly because I am a woman. I, therefore, voluntarily offer to return to Rendezvous the sweat equity they had offered me.

"I do not intend to seek compensation for the efforts I have made so far for them. As a mother of a half-Malayali son, I wish Kerala cricket well and I hope this team succeeds handsomely in IPL-4 and in the years to come," she said.

She had been looking forward to "contributing over the next ten years to building the team's brand, organising events for it and marketing the team in India and the Gulf in particular."

"Given the deeply unpleasant publicity surrounding my involvement however, I can no longer imagine being able to find the enthusiasm required to associate myself with any IPL activity in foreseeable future."

“The decision has nothing to do with Tharoor. This is her own decision,” he said. Rendezvous Sports World is a member of the consortium that won the Kochi Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise.

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