The Bengal Assembly’s leader of opposition (LOP), Suvendu Adhikari, criticised chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday for asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to run in the ICC (International Cricket Council) election and for expressing shock at the former India captain’s resignation as the cricket board chief.
“Remove Shah Rukh Khan and make Sourav Ganguly the brand ambassador of West Bengal. If Mamata Banerjee wanted to extend Ganguly’s role, then she should have made him the brand ambassador of the state. Don’t do politics in sports. PM Modi stays out of these things,” Adhikari said.
At a previous point in the day, Banerjee declared that Ganguly must be permitted to run in the ICC election and that she would write Modi about this. She claims that the president of the BCCI is now ”deprived of the opportunity for being a popular figure”. She further requested the central government to “not take a decision politically, but for cricket and sports”.
“I request the PM to make sure Sourav Ganguly is allowed to contest the ICC election. He’s a popular figure which is why he is being deprived. Request GoI not to take a decision politically, but for cricket, sports… He is not a political party member,” ANI cited the leader of the Trinamool Congress as stating.
According to a BCCI official, Ganguly was eager to continue serving as the organization’s president but was informed that doing so would go against precedent, according to PTI.
