Did Sania ask for money, private jet to be chief guest?

A day after Sania Mirza was accused of not attending the Madhya Pradesh government's sports awards ceremony owing to her unacceptable demands, the agency which manages the tennis star issued a statement saying she did not ask for any money to attend the event.

The Indian Express reported on Wednesday that after Sania had accepted the invitation to be chief guest, her personal assistant made demands of a make-up kit worth Rs 75,000 and a chartered plane.

The report added that if the sports department is to be believed, the demands made on Sania’s behalf included the make-up kit, a chartered plane to ferry her to Bhopal and back and five business class tickets for her assistants.

Madhya Pradesh sports minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia had said, “I respect her talent and she has undoubtedly made India proud at international platform but her demands were unacceptable. She wanted MP government to arrange expensive make-up kit and a chartered jet with five business class tickets."

Clarifying her stand, Sania posted the statement on Twitter which said that she did not ask for any money, and her demand for a private jet was valid since she was attending another event in Goa on the same day.

The statement read: "As the official agency, KWAN, managing Miss Sania Mirza's account, this is in response to the recent comments made in the media which have been attributed to certain officials from Madhya Pradesh. We wish to clarify our position.

“We had been directly dealing with the concerned persons in order to facilitate Miss Mirza's visit for the event in which she was very keen to participate. It was to take place in Bhopal on 28th November 2015 and we are well acquainted with the negotiations that were underway.

“There was never any demand for an account of Rs 5 lakh on this occasion made by the agency, as suggested by the media reports.

“As Miss Mirza was already committed to participate in an event in Goa on 29th November 2015, and since the commercial flights were taking her seven hours (including the stopovers) to fly from Bhopal to Goa, it was practically impossible for her to be physically present for both these events unless she was accorded the facility of a private jet for flying from Bhopal to Goa.

“Hence, the request for a private jet had to be made for just the outgoing flight from Bhopal to ensure that Miss Mirza could honour her commitments in Goa – a commitment that had been made more than a month ago.”

 “The practical impossibility of getting a popular celebrity to be present in two different corners of the country within a short span of time sometimes has to be tackled in this unusual manner and we are disappointed at the distasteful, damaging comments being floated against Ms Mirza by certain sections.

“It is particularly distressing for the agency as well as our client since we were given the impression by the negotiating official from Madhya Pradesh that as it was practically impossible for Miss Mirza to attend the event on 28th, another date would be mutually decided upon for the same event when our client had more time available". Indranil Blah, CAA Kwan added.

After dropping the idea of inviting Sania, the Madhya Pradesh sports department said they called badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, who agreed to come to Bhopal.