External Affairs Minister S M Krishna met Congress President Sonia Gandhi today against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding his deputy Shashi Tharoor regarding the Kochi IPL team. It is not known as to what figured in the discussion between the Minister and Mrs Gandhi. Congress MP Rajeev Shukla, who is also Vice President of the BCCI, also had a meeting with Mrs Gandhi. Mr Tharoor, who is locked in a fresh controversy around the Kochi IPL team which he helped set up, today hit back at IPL boss Lalit Modi alleging he had made attempts to pressure the winning consortium to abandon their bid for the Kerala outfit. Mr Tharoor also denied that he had told Modi not to ask details about owners of the consortium led by Rendezvous that bought the new franchisee. In a statement, the Minister of State for External Affairs trained his guns on the powerful cricket board official alleging that various attempts were made by Modi and others to pressure the members of the consortium to abandon their bid in favour of another city in a different state.