Off The Field

Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan Joins BJP

Written by Vipin Darwade

Former India leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan has joined the BJP on Wednesday. The move is set to bolster the party ahead of the TN Assembly elections next year. He joined the party in Chennai in the presence of of CT Ravi, BJP national secretary in-charge of Tamil Nadu and L Murugan, the president of Tamil Nadu BJP.

At 17, Sivaramakrishnan marked his Test debut against West Indies and went on to play eight more Tests. In his career he picked up 26 wickets. To go with that he also had 15 ODI wickets to his name.

Earlier, there were speculations that Sourav Ganguly too might join the BJP, but nothing has been confirmed as yet. He had taken everyone by surprise, when he visited the Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. After one and a half hour-long meeting, Sourav came out and told the media: Yes, I met the hon’ble governor. It was a courtesy call. Actually, he never visited Eden Gardens so I have decided to take him to the Eden Gardens next week.”

After a brief media interaction, Sourav left the Raj Bhawan, again with a subtle smile, saying, “Please, don’t speculate anything”.

However, political experts believe that the one and half hours long meeting with the governor cannot be only about visiting the Eden Gardens but certainly it was beyond a ‘courtesy call’. Although it’s a bit early to speculate or comment on his visit to Raj Bhawan, if we look back in 2019 October, Sourav had hit the headlines after (in a surprise move) he was made the chief of the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI after his brief meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

About the author

Vipin Darwade