CAB president Prasun Mukherjee yesterday announced phenomenally low ticket prices for the seven IPL Twenty20 matches to be played at the Eden Gardens in April-May. But he also announced a telling decision — spelling out that the 31,000 members of the CAB will not be entitled to get free tickets and they will be granted a 25 percent concession on the tickets they buy. It effectively means all of the 87,000 tickets for the seven matches will be put on sale.
It is this latter decision that is triggering fast-growing ciriticism from the Jagmohan Dalmiya-led opposition camp. Although Dalmiya is refusing to make an direct comment on the latest turn of events, waiting to discuss matters for a day or two before airing his opinion, he made it clear in a chat with The Indian Express this evening that he is not amused with the move to take away the members’ right to get free tickets.
“I will not make any comment now, for, I learnt from newspapers that none of these decisions are final yet. Let the CAB announce it all for final, only then I can comment. I will wait for a day or two. But, yes, I am confused with what is going on,” an understably peeved Dalmiya told this daily. Sources in the Dalmiya camp reckon that the CAB should immediately call a special general meeting to discuss the new decision on IPL.
In fact, Dalmiya’s close associate and former CAB assistant secretary Biswarup Dey minced no words, threatening to take on the Mukherjee-led CAB administration head-on on this matter if the CAB doesn’t take proper care of its members on the ticket-sharing front.
“If this decision is final, then the CAB administration should know that they will be up against a few serious hazards before the IPL matches get underway. The CAB’s members are entitled to free tickets for all international matches, as per the state association’s rulebook. But the CAB is arguing that this tournament is being organised by outsiders (read: Red Chillies Entertainment), so all decisions on ticket-sharing are up to them. This has become the point of conflict,” Dey told this paper.
On February 26, Dalmiya, with the backing of an overwhelming majority in the CAB, called upon the CAB to ensure proper distribution of IPL funds and to ensure that all the members get free tickets. But yesterday’s announcement from the CAB chief has left the Dalmiya camp fuming.
Says Dey: “If the decision is not changed, we will either call a press meet and air our opinions, or we will call upon the CAB to hold a special general meeting and re-assess the whole IPL chapter. Something has to be done, and will be done, for, the 31,000 members are surely hurt over the CAB’s decision to deny them free tickets.”
Shah Rukh personally may have vowed last week in Kolkata that he would see to it that the problems would be sorted out. But his production company Red Chillies Entertainment, which is the co-owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders, has stuck to its decision to put all of Eden’s tickets on sale instead of setting aside a portion for the free distribution among the 31,000 life, annual, associate and honorary members.