Issues with MCA will be resolved soon: Modi

Mumbai:

Reacting to reports that miffed MCA officials, including President Sharad Pawar, will boycott the Indian Premier League's (IPL) opening ceremony, IPL Chairman Lalit Modi on Friday said that the issue will be sorted out by this evening.

"We would like our friends in the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to join us. They wanted a certain number of tickets for the IPL matches which were given to them, but, unfortunately, they wanted tickets for all of the Mumbai matches," Modi said at a press conference here today.

"All the Mumbai matches are in control of the franchise owners and CCI, and we are trying to facilitate that. MCA is a very important member of the BCCI and we would want our members to be happy," he said.

"I'm sure that the problem will be sorted out by this evening," he added.

Modi said the reason Pawar was likely to miss IPL's opening ceremony was due to his Parliamentary commitments.

"I spoke to Mr. Pawar this morning. There is a vote in the Parliament at 5 or 6pm this evening. I'm sure he's going to try very hard. But there is a trust vote in the Parliament.

What happens there is something we'll have to wait and see," he said.

Earlier, MCA Joint Secretary Lalchand Rajput said that, MCA's managing committee had decided to boycott the IPL opener as they had not received any invitation to attend it.

Rajput had said the managing committee was totally miffed at being ignored and was also furious that the Test cricketers produced by the association have not been given any match credentials by IPL, a sub-committee of the BCCI, to attend it.

Meanwhile, talking on the security measures for the tournament, Modi said security is something that is of paramount importance. Security is something that is evolved with plans every minute, every hour.

"I'm not at liberty to touch what the plan is but all I can tell you is that all the players, franchisees are extremely happy with the plan and execution of the plan," he said.

"We have received great support from the State and Central governments. They have gone the extra mile to ensure that plans are implemented," he added.

Asked about the revenue he was expecting from the opening encounter between defending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, Modi said, "I'm the last person to be asked such a question as I don't look at numbers."

"Numbers are important at the end of the day but its not something that I concentrate on. What we focus on is to provide quality entertainment," he said.

Commenting on the entertainment tax levied on IPL matches in the state by the Maharashtra government, Modi said," Government policies for different states are different.

This is an issue related to the franchisees and the government.