MUMBAI: Leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) met the head of the Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena on Sunday pleading with him not to oppose the participation of Australian players in Indian Premier League 3 matches that are to take place in India in a month’s time.
Sharad Pawar, NCP chief and federal agriculture minister, and Shashank Manohar, chief of BCCI, met Bal Thackeray, head of Shiv Sena, on Sunday at his home in a meeting that lasted over two hours.
The meeting was also attended by Uddhav, Thackeray’s son and Shiv Sena’s working president, and Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena member of Parliament and executive editor of the party’s mouthpiece.
Pawar told Thackeray that the matches, which are to be mostly played in Mumbai and Nagpur, risk being canceled if Shiv Sena does not give assurances not to oppose the matches.
He added that the Congress-led government in Delhi and Mumbai are incapable of providing security to the Australian players.
Pawar gave Thackeray a preliminary list of the Australian players participating in the matches and said that only two or three Australian players would be in each of the Indian Premier League teams.
Responding to the request, Thackeray said, “I will never tolerate the insult shown to my country and my countrymen in Australia. Let me think and consider your request and I will give my decision in two to three days time.”
Pawar had earlier taken potshots at the Sena chief in Aurangabad on Sunday, saying that the age factor was disturbing Thackeray. “It’s no doubt we criticize each other, and yet we have remained friends. I also reiterate that Mumbai belongs to all and all Indians have right to live and work there.”
