“May be in retrospective, should have invested in some airline business instead of pumping in crores into this branded cricket team.”
“This is what happens if you pay your employees really well. They just don’t perform. Not paying salaries from today.”
Sounds incredible? These and many other tweets are doing the rounds from a supposedly Vijay Mallya twitter handle whose intro reads: not a Member of Parliament, UB Group co-owner and team principal Sahara Force India F1 (parody account, obviously) #MallyaPayUp.
The real one says: “Just unable to reconcile to the fact that RCB scores 200 in a T20 and winds up losing. Maybe the new standard in T20 is 200 plus.”
Elsewhere, Mallya and his son Siddharth, in a selfie video widely circulated on WhatsApp, are seen cheering their Sahara Force India as well as the Royal Challengers Bangalore teams from a private home theatre in London along with cricket commentator Harsh Bhogle and a few other guests.
Posted by Mallya Jr, a much leaner Vijay Mallya is seen saying ‘Go RCB’. Siddharth also mentions in the video about the podium finish of Sahara Force India at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday last.
RCB has never won the IPL trophy in spite of the fact that they were in the finals on three occasions including the Sunday clash where they were beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight runs. This loss should rankle them a lot because they won matches after matches on the trot after finding themselves at the bottom of the heap in the league during the initial phase of the tournament.
This is also the first time when Mallya and his son haven’t been in India during the IPL season. According to insiders, Mallya used to be present during each and every match RCB played and was part of the team selection process as well.
Mallya, incidentally, is no longer the owner of RCB and now holds an honorary post of chief mentor while his son is a director on the board of the team. The former liquor baron owes over ₹9,000 crore to public sector banks in the country. Several investigating agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate, have been trying to get Mallya to return to India from London and have even contacted Interpol asking them to issue a Red-corner notice to the former billionaire. The UK Government has also said that it cannot deport but could consider an extradition request for him.