Gambhir joins BJP, fuels speculation of LS contest
TOO CLOSE TO POLLS Rumours galore that former cricketer may be fielded from Capital
NEW DELHI: Former cricketer Gautam Gambhir joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday fuelling speculation of him contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Delhi.
Later in the day, Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting with senior Delhi leaders, including all seven MPS, to discuss the panel of names from the seven parliamentary constituencies on Friday.
The former opening batsman of the Indian cricket team joined the party in the presence of Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. “I am joining this party influenced by our prime minister, his vision. I have done whatever I could in cricket, and this is a fabulous platform for me to do something really good for this country and take this party forward and make this country a better place to live,” said Gambhir, who was recently conferred a Padma Shri, the country’s fourth highest civilian award.
Gambhir played a key role in India’s triumph in the 2011 World Cup and the 2007 T-20 World Cup. He was also the captain of the Delhi Daredevils, an Indian Premier League team which is now called the Delhi Capitals.
Welcoming Gambhir to the party, Jaitley said he is an “important induction” in the party and the call whether to field him or not in the Lok Sabha elections would be taken at an appropriate time. “He has played cricket for years. He has been born and brought up in Delhi. We consider his induction in the party important,” said Jaitley. Gambhir also met party chief Amit Shah.
His induction came up for discussion when Sitharaman and Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya, who are in charge of the BJP in Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections, met all the seven MPS, former Delhi BJP chiefs and senior party leaders to discuss the probable names of candidates.
Gambhir’s induction in the party comes just weeks before the elections. Speculation is rife that the party leadership is keen to have him contest from one of the seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi. However, at the election committee meeting held on Friday, some leaders were vocal about their opposition to his candidature from Delhi.
A senior BJP leader, who was present in the meeting, said on condition of anonymity: “Gambhir’s name was mentioned. There has been speculation that he will contest from Delhi. But some leaders were vocal in their opposition to new faces being fielded from Delhi.”
A senior BJP leader,who too did not wish to be identified, however said that the party has fielded newcomers, who joined just before the elections, in the past too. In 2014, this person added, the BJP fielded Manoj Tiwari, Maheish Girri and Udit Raj, all of whom joined the party before the elections, from North East Delhi, East Delhi and North West Delhi respectively.