Sehwag declined BJP's offer to contest polls citing personal reasons: Delhi BJP leader
New Delhi, Mar 14: Former India cricketer Virender Sehwag has declined the BJP's offer to contest the Lok Sabha polls on party ticket citing personal reasons, a top leader of its Delhi unit said.
He, however, asserted that Shewag's former teammate Gautam Gambhir is "serious" regarding making a foray into politics and may contest the polls from Delhi.
Sehwag's name was under consideration for the West Delhi seat that is currently being held by BJP MP Parvesh Verma. But, Sehwag refused the offer citing personal reasons, the leader said.
He said, "Sehwag said he was not interested in politics or contesting elections."
In February, there were reports that Sehwag might contest the polls on BJP ticket from Rohtak in Haryana. But the former India opener had posted on Twitter, "Some things never change, like this rumour. Same in 2014, and no innovation even in Rumour in 2019. Not interested then, not interested now. #BaatKhatam #5YearChallenge (sic)."
In July last year, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari had met Sehwag as part of the party's 'Sampark for Samarthan' initiative, giving rise to speculations that he may join the saffron party.
The top leader of the BJP's Delhi unit said, "Gambhir has started attending meetings in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. He attended one such meeting organised by a resident welfare association in Defence Colony earlier this week."
When contacted, Gambhir told PTI, "I have no clue of it. As of now, they are rumours."
After Gambhir announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent him a congratulatory letter for his contribution to the sport as well for his efforts to bring "positive difference in the lives of the lesser privileged."
"When you announced retirement from all forms of cricket, you left several well wishers of yours disappointed. However, this decision marks the start of not one but several other innings of your life," Modi had said in the letter.
After his retirement, there was speculation that Gambhir may join politics but he had categorically rejected it at that time.
Delhi will go to polls on May 12. BJP candidates for the seven parliamentary seats in the national capital are expected to be announced in the first week of April.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
