New Delhi/ Hyderabad: Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday gave hope to organisers of the Indian Premier League, saying the government would ensure security for the cricket series but rescheduling the event could not be avoided.
“Cricket in India is completely safe,” said Chidambaram in Hyderabad. He clarified that the government had never demanded that IPL be postponed but rescheduling it is unavoidable.
State governments have expressed their inability in providing security for the IPL, which coincides with the Lok Sabha elections.
"I did not say IPL should be postponed,” said Chidambaram. "IPL and election schedules are overlapping. I don't blame the IPL management at all. They finalised their dates earlier. But once the election commission announced the election dates on Monday, I saw that the election and IPL schedules were completely overlapping."
The Minister said that the "IPL has come up with another schedule now after I asked them to. We will try to help the IPL to the overcome all issues in holding matches."
Chidambaram added that some rescheduling of IPL matches "seems unavoidable", but "the government is ready to help as much as it can".
"Cricket must be played in India; cricket is always safe in India. We will ensure safety when the matches are played," the Home Minister added.
The IPL organisers have conveyed to the Home Ministry that they do not require any central forces for the security. The Home Ministry has passed on the new schedule to the states and is waiting for their response as to whether they need para-military forces for matches or not.
The states where the IPL matches are scheduled to be held are Delhi, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Chidambaram was on a visit to Hyderabad on Friday as part of his security review of every state ahead of the general elections.
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