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…