MP's demand action against tainted cricketers

Going by their reluctance to arrive at a decision on the match fixing front, their procrastination and recent pronouncements, it is obvious that the Board of Control for Cricket in India is out of touch with the public mood in the country. Opinion polls have confirmed that the public wants the accused cricketers to be punished. But if the board is unable - or unwilling - to gauge the general mood accurately, the public on Friday got support from a very important group - members of Parliament.

In the Lok Sabha, BJP and Shiv Sena members vociferously sought immediate action against tainted cricketers named in the CBI report. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, BJP member and former Test cricketer Kirti Azad said he did not understand why the BCCI was unable to decide on their prosecution even after five sittings following submission of the CBI report.

Taking exception to the match-fixing report being made public by the then Sports Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa before tabling it in Parliament, Azad said Dhindsa had stated that it would would first be placed in Parliament. But the report was released to the press by the Minister, he said.

Azad said he had requested Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to direct the Enforcement Directorate to probe the assets of the involved cricketers. If they were found to be having assets disproportionate to their known sources of income, the Income Tax Department could institute cases against them, he said.

Supporting Azad, Shiv Sena member Mohan Rawale said immediate action must be taken against the guilty cricketers.

In a reply in the Lok Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj said advertisers had themselves stopped the advertisements of cricketers on Doordarshan.