Whatever publicity the Kochi franchise, valued atu00a0$ 333m has received since it came into existence, has been damaging, to say the least. Following the Shashi Tharoor-Lalit Modi spat, its fortunes have taken a turn for the worse.

Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has asked its consortium of owners to register as per the Companies Act within 10 days to avoid disqualification from IPL-4.

"We are very worried about what is happening, BCCI has already set the deadline, now it is up to them to act fast," TC Matthew, Secretary of KCA told MiD DAY. "Mr. Tharoor, the mentor, will be meeting some investors over the next week. We are still optimistic."u00a0

In March, the franchise ran into trouble over the composition of its ownership. A reviewed agreement was then signed but fresh controversy broke out, when Modi made the ownership details public. Those tweets set in motion events that led to his ouster.

Seven months later, Modi isn't surprised. "Show cause should be issued to people who forced this agreement to be signed in the first place," he tweeted yesterday.

"KCA's diamond jubilee celebrations are on October 17th. By then, we hope the crisis will be resolved," said Matthew.

No compromise
"Investors won't succumb to pressure. Two things we had issues with - appointment of Shailendra Gaekwad as CEO, and secondly, we want the 26%u00a0 owners not to keep free equity," an aide of one of the investors said.

BCCI had given time to the franchise till next Saturday to incorporate themselves, but now KCA, along with Tharoor, will meet them on October 7.