Bharat Ratna awardee, Sachin Tendulkar, and the man who took team India on top in all three formats Mahendra Singh Dhoni came in for heavy criticism by former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh – Uma Bharti.
Bharti said those people who put thmesleves on sale in IPL auctiojn are not the pride of the country. She said in response to some people who compared her with Indian cricketers, as per media reports.
Uma Bharti said: “I am a cricket fan too, and when I was Minister of Sport, I hand picked past players for Arjuna Award, but I assumed now that with introduction of IPL, the cricket has collapsed completely. Back then it used to awaken national consciousness, but cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni who were sold in the auction and were bought buy people like Nita Ambani, Shilpa Shetty who did not contribute to the country as women.
She further said: “India was sold in the millions (at the auction), and the players who sell themsleves are not eligible to be called gems of the country. Players, who sell themselves, are not the pride of the country.”
This remark comes in wake of another auction which is about to take place in Bengaluru next week on Feb 12 and Feb 13 with hundreds of players from as many as 10 countries are in the fray and eight franchises will fight tooth and nail to buy them.
Meanwhile, Uma Bharti, also hit out at Indian National Congress’ vice-presidnet Rahul Gandhi as she claimed Rahul Gandhi will find difficult to withstand Narendra Modi.
