G-23 leaders missing as Congress names star campaigners for 1st phase of West Bengal polls
New Delhi: Top Congress leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Kapil Sibal of the 'group of 23' have not been named in the party's list of star campaigners for the first phase of assembly polls in West Bengal despite their willingness to campaign.
The G-23 leaders, who had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in August last year demanding organisational overhaul, had expressed their desire to canvass for the party in the upcoming elections.
However, only two from among the G-23 -- Jitin Prasada and Akhilesh Prasad Singh -- have been included as the party named 30 star campaigners.
Prasada is the in-charge of party affairs in West Bengal and Akhilesh Prasad Singh is a Rajya Sabha MP.
Party chief Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, ex-Congress chief Rahul Gandhi have been named as star campaigners, alongside AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and chief ministers Ashok Gehlot, Amarinder Singh and Bhupesh Baghel.
Besides them, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, West Bengal chief of the party Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and senior leaders B K Hari Prasad, Salman Khurshid, Sachin Pilot, Randeep Singh Surjewala, R P N Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu are also in the list.
Some prominent youth leaders who will campaign for the party as star campaigners in West Bengal include Deepender Hooda, Abhijeet Mukherjee, Jaiveer Shergill, Pawan Khera and Mohd Azharuddin.
Azad had recently said that he along with his colleagues would campaign for the party in the upcoming assembly elections, wherever asked by the party or individually by candidates.
He had said that ensuring the victory of Congress, and the BJP's defeat, was their top priority.
Asked about some prominent Congressmen missing in the star campaigners' list, party spokesperson Pawan Khera said there are different phases of elections and some more names would figure in other lists for West Bengal and other states.
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Rohit Sharma lashes out at IPL broadcasters for breaching privacy
New Delhi, May 19: India skipper Rohit Sharma on Sunday lashed out at the IPL broadcasters for "breaching" cricketers' privacy by recording their conversations with friends and colleagues at training and on match days and then telecasting the contents.
Rohit expressed his disappointment after a video involving him and Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, in which the former is seen contemplating his future at the Mumbai Indians, went viral.
"The lives of cricketers have become so intrusive that cameras are now recording every step and conversation we are having in privacy with our friends and colleagues, at training or on match days," Rohit posted on X.
He added, "Despite asking Star Sports to not record my conversation, it was and was also then played on air, which is a breach of privacy."
"The need to get exclusive content and focused only on views and engagement will one day break the trust between the fans, cricketers and cricket. Let better sense prevail."
Rohit was seen making a request to the broadcasters to shut down the audio while recording him after his chat with Nayar. The conversation between the two took place after MI's IPL fixture against KKR on May 11.
The audio of the chat was posted by KKR on their social media handle and fans assumed that the cricketer is speaking about leaving MI after the ongoing season.
Following the controversy, the video was taken down by the Knight Riders' social media team.
Few days after that, on May 17, Rohit was once again seen having a chat with Dhawal Kulkarni ahead of MI's fixture against Lucknow Super Giants. Seeing himself being recorded, the opener, with folded hands, requested the broadcaster to turn off the audio as one audio has already got him into trouble.
"Bhai audio band karo haan, already ek audio ne mera waat laga diya (Brother please close the audio, one audio has already made things difficult for me)," said Sharma in the video that also went viral.
