Mumbai, Feb. 20: As word spread that Sony chief executive Kunal Dasgupta had put in his papers and rumours sprouted about sponsors and partners pulling out of the Indian Premier League, IPL chairman Lalit Modi averred that not only were all sponsors firmly on board but a lot of others were waiting to make their presence felt in the Twenty20 extravaganza.

"I want to make it very clear that all our sponsors and partners are still on board. They have all paid as per the schedule. In fact, a lot of other sponsors have approached us and are willing to pay more than our existing ones," said Modi at a briefing arranged at the cricket centre here on Friday.

Terming the news about his stepping down from the chairman’s post as speculation, Modi added that the Supreme Court had on the day rescheduled elections for the faction-ridden Rajasthan Cricket Association from February 23 to March 1 under the unamended constitution, thus vindicating his stand.

Expressing his happiness over the development, he said, "My stand gets vindicated. All the illegalities presented by the other group by changing the constitution have been set aside by the Supreme Court."

On the Sony issue, Modi said, "it’s an internal matter of Sony. He (Kunal Dasgupta) is a personal friend of mine. He was deeply involved in developing the IPL concept. But the organisation, whether it’s Sony or IPL, is bigger than any individual. There’s no question of Sony pulling out."

He rubbished reports that title sponsors DLF had paid and would pay only 50 per cent of what they had agreed upon in a five-year deal worth Rs 200 crore.

Modi added that the absence of Australian captain Ricky Ponting for the IPL’s second edition would not affect the league’s stature.

"The pulling out of one or two players will not affect the IPL which is much bigger," he said.