No 'conflict of interest' for Sourav Ganguly over Pune Says Sanjiv Goenka

Kolkata, Dec 9- City business tycoon Sanjiv Goenka who on Tuesday bought the Pune franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL) said former India captain Sourav Ganguly would nto be involved in "conflict of interest" as he is the co-owner of Indian Super League (ISL) football outfit Atletico de Kolkata.

Ganguly is also a member of the IPL governing council.

“Sourav is not involved with us, which is sure. The thing is entirely mine. I own it 100 percent. It is only me and my group of companies,” Goenka told reporters here.

Goenka also said that he wanted to acquire the Kolkata franchise when the IPL started way back in 2008 but was outbade by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and his associates then.

“If you recall, you will see that we had originally bid for the Kolkata franchise but then Shah Rukh’s bid was marginally higher than ours. We have been wanting to get into the IPL for a long time now. It looks like a good opportunity,” he said.

Coming back to Ganguly, Goenka said when he tried to speak to him about acquiring the franchise during an ISL game, the fomer Indian skipper did not answer.

“You all are being hypothetical that I am going to bring in Sourav. We have not thought of it. There have been no talks or discussions with Sourav on this. I was speaking to him about cricket the other day and he was looking away. That was in a football game. I was asking him, ‘What do you think, how do you think the sponsors would respond, and how was the Pune crowd like?’ But he just did not respond,” Goenka said.

Goenka also introduced his son Saswat, who will look into the affairs of the new franchise.

“Saswat and I took the call and decided to go for the bid. We now have the team for two seasons and we are going to make the best out of it.”

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar also confirmed in New Delhi on Tuesday that there is no "conflict of interest" regarding Ganguly.

Agency