Mamata Banerjee said “I don’t understand cricket, but if you let me play I will play the game”.
Kolkata:
The Chief Minister of Bengal Mamata Banerjee had strong words about removing former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly from the post of BCCI (Board of Cricket Control in India) and not sending him to the International Cricket Council or ICC . She had previously asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that he was sent to the ICC. The position of BCCI chief has gone to Roger Binny.
“I don’t understand the game of cricket, but if you let me play, I’ll play the game,” she told reporters when asked about the matter.
If someone is capable and eligible, he can get a chance, even if they are “political people,” she said, pointing to the Union minister’s brother, Anurag Thakur, who has been given a post on the council.
“The court had awarded Sourav and Jay Shah three terms. So, if he was given a term and is entitled to it, why was Sourav robbed? Not only are sports fans shocked, but this is an embarrassment to the world,” she added. ready.
“You saw that I openly made a request. If they had sent him, the country would have been proud. Jagmohan Dalmiya was there too. So today, for whatever reason, for whatever unknown reason, a man like Sourav was robbed and they have left the position reserved for someone else,” Ms Banerjee added.
“Because Sourav is a gentleman, he doesn’t say anything. He must have felt bad, but he didn’t share that pain with anyone. But we don’t take this lightly. We are shocked. It’s a shameless political vendetta,” she added. . .
When asked if Jay Shah was meant to be sent to the ICC, Ms Banerjee said, “I won’t be taking any names.”
Ms Banerjee said she had been the Union’s Sports Minister herself and had talked about how politics should not be mixed with sport.
Former BJP chief of West Bengal Dilip Ghosh mocked Ms Banerjee’s response.
“When the Left Front government allotted land to Sourav Ganguly in Salt Lake to turn it into a school, who wanted to close that school? No land should be given to Ganguly, they said, holding dharnas as they in Singur. They took that land back. Today she remembers Sourav because she is in the soup,” he said.
The ruling Trinamool Congress had previously strongly protested the removal of Mr Ganguly as the BCCI president, alleging that the former Indian skipper paid the price for saying “no” to the BJP.
Reports had suggested that the BJP had approached Mr Ganguly to join the party, which he declined to do.
It has also been reported that the father of BCCI Secretary Jay Shah, the Union Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah, had met the BCCI buyers, including Mr Ganguly, at his home in Delhi on Oct. 6, during which the Mr Ganguly’s exit route was mapped out.
Though Mr Ganguly has avoided politics, he has announced that he will run in the Cricket Association of Bengal elections for the post of president as he is limited to the cricket administration. However, politics around him is unlikely to slacken any time soon.
