New Delhi, Mar 23 : In a sharp reaction to the criticism of the Central Government over the IPL issue, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday hit back at the BCCI and the BJP, saying that the Cricket tournament was a "shrewd combination of sport and business" and there was no need to add politics to it.

A day after the BCCI announced that the second edition of the IPL was being shifted to a foreign country because of security issues in India, Chidambaram told a press conference that while he had no comment on that decision, he had read a number of statements which obliquely criticised the Central government. "These statements require an answer. Some unwarranted comments also deserve a rejoinder," he added.

Taking on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had described the shifting of the IPL out of India as a "national shame", the Home Minister said that most people in India thought that the Gujarat communal riots of 2002 were a national shame.

To another BJP leader Arjun Jaitley's comments that the decision will send a negative message to the world and that the Congress-ruled states have been non-cooperative towards holding of IPL in India, Chidambaram said, "I know that Mr Jaitley has a penchant for exaggeration, but because he also wears the cap of the president of the DDCA he seems to have gone overboard this time."

"Perhaps he has forgotten that several leaders of the NDA had expressed the view that the schedule of the IPL should be postponed until after the elections," Chidambaram said.

On BCCI President Shashank Manohar's claim that the government's attitude forced the organisers to move the IPL out of the country, Chidambaram said, "If he was referring to the central government, the remark is entirely unwarranted. It is contrary to the letter of March 4, 2009, wherein N Srinivasan, Secretary BCCI, said 'we shall not ask for central paramilitary forces to provide security for matches'.

"If Manohar was referring to the State Governments alone, I would like to remind him that State Governments are ultimately responsible for maintaining law and order and providing security and one has to respect the judgment made by the State Governments in this behalf," he said.

"Chief Ministers are not backroom wizards. They have to take frontline responsibility for providing security. The Central Government has to respect their judgment. I may add that every state has expressed its reservations and also made it clear that full security can and will be provided after May 16, 2009," he said.