Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP is mum on cricketer S. Sreesanth's statement that he was keen to play for other countries due to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) ban. The BJP candidate from Thiruvananthapuram in the 2016 state elections got the life ban in September 2013 for spot-fixing in the IPL. However, the Kerala High Court last month directed the cricket body to lift the ban, only for a division bench to restore it a month later, as the speedster was nursing his comeback ambitions. A peeved Sreesanth blurted out during his recent trip to Dubai that the BCCI banned him but not the ICC (International Cricket Council).
“If not for India, I would like to play for another country. I am 34 years old now, and I can go on only for another six years,” he had said. The BCCI had earlier denied him permission to play in the Scottish League. BJP leaders were caught off guard when the national leadership parachuted him in the VIP constituency. He had taken the party membership at its headquarters in the national capital a few months before. A top leader told DC that if not for the cricketer-turned “part-time politician”, BJP would have polled more votes.
He managed to secure 34,764 votes but lost the contest to the incumbent, V. S. Sivakumar, of the Congress by 11, 710 votes. “Sreesanth must have attended a couple of party meetings after the elections. It is true that our leaders speak of nationalism from daybreak on the national television. But unfortunately, they ignored Sreesanth’s threat to play for another country,” said a top leader. State president Kummanam Rajasekharan said he was not aware of his statement. "I will look into it," he told DC.
