Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), led by Arvind Kejriwal, has asked legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar not to associate himself with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after the local cricket governing body named its Kandivali Club after the master blaster.
"Kids need their playgrounds.Don't push them into 'Galli cricket'.@Pawar_Sharad using you @sachin_rt to save his skin. #SachinSaveMca V beg U," said AAP leader and IAC activist Anjali Damania on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Damania, who is also AAP's Maharashtra Convenor, sent a letter to Sachin's address requesting him not to smear his name by associating it with MCA's Kandivli club.
"You are India's biggest icon, every Indian's heart beats for you and you are the symbol of our aspirations and our pride. It is with extreme disappointment we've learned that your name will be associated with the MCA Club in Kandivali which is a symbol of shameless loot by politicians of national resource, a symbol of how even the smallest joys of the poor are looted to benefit already fat purses," Damania said in the letter.
"Aam Aadmi Party entreats you to not associate your blessed name with the MCA club which has blatantly stolen a playground of Mumbai's children and made it into a swank club for the rich and famous."
Earlier this month, the AAP leader had accused MCA president Sharad Pawar of being involved in a land acquisition scam.
AAP had alleged that Pawar had requested then Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for a plot of land at the Bandra Kurla Complex in February 2001 for an academic purpose (to create an indoor school). However, the land has been allegedly misused by the minister as a posh club has been constructed on the land, where one membership costs about ₹15 lakh.
"We have nothing against luxurious clubs. But they should be made on commercial land, not land stolen from our children," Damania wrote in the letter.
Pawar announced on Tuesday that Sachin along with the Indian and West Indies cricket teams would be present during a grand felicitation function on 11 November for Tendulkar before the player's final test match (14-18 November).
