Politicians should stay away from cricket: Uddhav Thackeray

MUMBAI: Politicians should stay away from cricket, like their counterparts in 11 nations where the game is played, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray said here on Thursday.

"Cricket is played in 11 nations. In United Kingdom, Prince Charles does not crave to become the head of its cricket body, nor is the game exploited by past or present politicians in Sri Lanka, New Zealand or Australia," Uddhav said, in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana'.

His comments come in the backdrop of the Sharad Pawar-Gopinath Munde tiff for the post of the President of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). Last month, Pawar was elected unopposed to the post after Munde's nomination papers were rejected on technical grounds by the MCA.

Munde moved a Mumbai court and was granted a temporary injunction against Pawar, who has been restrained from functioning as MCA president for a week.

Politicians should keep off cricket for the betterment of the sport, Uddhav said.

Our politicians, ignoring larger public issues, seem to find nothing wrong with playing their political games over cricket, he said.

Pawar, who has prime ministerial ambitions, wants to become MCA president and Munde who wants to become Maharashtra chief minister is fighting to capture the MCA chief's post," he said.

The way in which politicians are attracted to cricket and the game's governing bodies, conveys an impression that "all other problems have been solved", he quipped.

"Politicians should love cricket as a sport, like how former Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray used to do. Sachin Tendulkar retired from cricket and it's time politicians should quit the politics of the game -- for the betterment of cricket," Uddhav said.