BJP president Amit Shah contacted the cricketer.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
Former India cricketer Sreesanth may be soon seen in the avatar of a politician. According to several media reports, the BJP is planning to field Sreesanth in the upcoming Kerala state assembly elections.
BJP national president Amit Shah has reportedly called Sreesanth and asked whether he could represent the party in the election in which the party is expected to open an account in the state assembly.
Presently in Mumbai, Sreesanth is expected to meet Shah when he arrives in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, to attend a party function, on Wednesday.
“I will let you know my decision by tomorrow. I have been offered a ticket by the BJP to contest either from Ernakulam or Tripunithura constituency. I wish to contest from Tripunithura,” Sreesanth said.
Family members of Sreesanth have confirmed that he had received a call from a top BJP leader in New Delhi.
The cricketer will take a decision after discussing the matter with his family.
But, the BJP state leadership doesn’t have any idea of the initiative of the national leadership. State president Kummanam Rajasekharan said that the state committee was not aware of the move of the national leadership and everything would be clear in a few days.
State leadership is thinking that national leadership may have contacted Sreesanth directly as he is a celebrity.
Hailing from a left-leaning family, the family of Sreesanth’s wife is pro-BJP.
If he is contesting the election from Thripunithura, he will have to face state excise minister and a prominent Congress leader K Babu who has been winning from the constituency from 1991 onwards.
Sreesanth is now busy with the shooting of his upcoming Bollywood film. He was exonerated in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing case by a Delhi court last year.
Earlier, he had expressed his wish to make a comeback to the Indian cricket team. He was banned for lifetime by Indian cricket control board after the spot-fixing allegations.
The upcoming Kerala assembly election is considered as a triangular contest with the BJP emerging as a strong party in the state along with the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).