After External Affairs Minister Shashi Tharoor, who had to step down in the wake of his involvement in IPL-Kochi, the latest in the line of fire is Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

This had to happen. Almost everyone who has or has ever had an interest in the goings-on in the world of IPL knew what would follow the unceremonious exit of the now Ex-IPL chairman Lalit Modi. Yes, the can of worms is open, with investment histories of politicians and bureaucrats tumbling out one by one.

After External Affairs Minister Shashi Tharoor, who had to step down in the wake of his involvement in IPL-Kochi, the latest in the line of fire is Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who has been claiming that he and his family members never bid for the Pune IPL team, but is increasingly finding it difficult to convince people.

From vociferously denying their involvement in a failed bid for an IPL franchise in March, the minister and his daughter, Supriya Sule, have come to a point of gradual admission of their investments in two companies, one having bid and the other owning stakes in IPL.

According to the Times of India, the Pawar family allegedly owns roughly 16% in City Corporation, a Pune-based construction company that bid Rs 1,176 crores (US$261.1m) for a franchise in March. City Corp ultimately lost out to Sahara's Rs 1,703 crore (US$370m) bid for the Pune franchise.

With scrutiny into the NCP chief’s investments in IPL related companies growing intense, Pawar on Sunday disclosed that his family has a small stake in the parent company of Royal Challengers, the IPL team from Bangalore. The Pawars own over 51,000 shares - currently valued at about Rs 6 crore in Vijay Mallya's United Spirits Ltd (USL), of which Royal Challengers Sports Private Ltd (RCSPL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Pawars' shareholding in USL amounts to roughly 0.05% of that company's equity. This holding has come from the significant stake owned by Pawars in Baramati Grape Industries Ltd, in which Pawar’s brother was a director, and which merged with USL in 2006.

There is no illegality involved in owning such shares but what is now being noticed as foul play is Pawar failing to disclose the same -- in both2006 when he was president of BCCI, and recently, when the whole business of IPL ownerships was taking an ugly turn.

In the wake of this recent controversy, the BJP on Sunday demanded that the NCP chief resign from the government. "Pawar has been repeatedly misleading the country and misrepresenting the facts on his role in IPL bidding," said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad in Uttan, Maharashtra.

Prasad rejected Pawar’s statements that the Pune-based City Corporation’s managing director Aniruddha Deshpande bid for the Pune team in his personal capacity and the company was not involved in it. "It is not that only Pawar is misleading the country but CCL MD Anirudh Deshpande has also misrepresented the facts. The Company Affairs Ministry must take action," he said.

"If Pawar fails to quit, Prime Minister should take action against him," said Prasad. "Every day Pawar has been misrepresenting facts. Should a political leader of his stature indulge in gross misrepresentation? Mr. Prime Minister, you always talk of integrity in governance. We will judge you on the action you take on this matter."

In New Delhi, the Congress, however, offered no defence for the Agriculture Minister. "These are the nitty-gritty details about which you will have to ask the NCP. A general inquiry into the matter is already on," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

Irrespective of whether, after asking Tharoor to step down on the basis of a similar role in the IPL, the Congress repeats the feat with Pawar, the man behind all this is steadily working to unearth yet another skeleton. No matter how much the BCCI steps on the gas to have him accept his exit from the cricket world, one would have to give it to Lalit Modi, not only for making cricket a money-spinner for the cricketers as well as investors, but also his unashamed resilience in taking on a tug of war with almost the entire cricket industry, with this lone ranger standing alone at the other end... still standing...