Sourav under pressure to join politics CPI M leader's comment triggers storm

    Kolkata, Jan 3 (PTI) Senior CPI(M) leader Ashok
Bhattacharya's statement that BCCI president and former Indian
cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, who suffered a heart attack
and is now hospitalised, was under pressure to join politics
created a storm on Sunday.
    Speculations were rife that the former batting great
will join the BJP ahead of the state assembly elections due in
April-May this year. But Ganguly himself never made his
intentions quite clear about taking the political plunge.
    He underwent angioplasty after a "mild" heart attack
on Saturday. He is under treatment in a private hospital in
Kolkata.
    "Some people wanted to use Ganguly politically. That
probably exerted pressure on him. He is not a political
element. He should be known as Sourav the sporting icon,"
Bhattacharya, the BCCI presidents longtime family friend,
said.
    "We should not create pressure on him (for joining
politics). I had told Sourav last week he should not join
politics and he did not oppose my views," Bhattacharya who
visited Ganguly at the hospital said.
    Reacting to the former minister's comments, BJP state
president Dilip Ghosh said, "Some people see politics in
everything due to their sick mindset. Like millions of his
fans, we only wish that Sourav recovers fully."
    Senior Trinamool Congress leader and state minister
Sobhandeb Chatterjee, who also visited the former cricketer at
the hospital, said that there had never been any effort to
induct Sourav "into our party. We are proud to have him as the
icon of sports."
    Ganguly's former teammate and state minister Lakshmi
Ratan Shukla, TMC MLA and daughter of late BCCI president
Jagmohan Dalmiya, Baishali Dalmiya, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief
Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and several others also visited
him.
    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday visited the hospital to
enquire about his health.
    Ganguly had met Dhankhar at Raj Bhavan a week back "in
a courtesy visit". PTI SUS
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)