Distance yourself from ‘wicked’ club: AAP to Sachin

“At this stage,when you are poised to put down the bat and signal the end of India’s most spectacular sports era,the whole world’s eyes are on you. At this time,more than ever,your being associated with a wicked club that has stolen the playground of the poorest children of a city,that has been the Mecca of Indian cricket would be a complete shame. You would do well not to smear your good name through an association with this club which is besmirched in controversy,” AAP Maharashtra convener,Anjali Damania,has written in the letter.

Till last week,for the past four months,the Shiv Sena rallied with the AAP in its protest against the cricketing body and alleged that the MCA is violating the lease of a 39,000 square meter civic-owned plot in Kandivali. On October 22,after MCA president Sharad Pawar,who also happens to be the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief,declared the cricketing body’s intention to rename the plot after Tendulkar,it further raised the ire of the party. But in less than 24 hours,after receiving a written request for the same from MCA vice president Ravi Sawant,Mumbai Mayor Sunil Prabhu changed the party’s stance and even promised to fast-track the clearance process.

On losing its main political ally in the BMC,members of the AAP personally delivered a letter to Tendulkar.

“A Mumbaiker yourself,you know how our children are forced to play cricket in gullies,incurring the wrath of many broken windows. Almost all playgrounds have been stolen by politicians who make swank facilities with prohibitive entry costs. We have nothing against luxurious clubs,but they should be made on commercial land,not land stolen from our children,” the letter says.

Tendulkar could not be reached for comment.

alison.saldanha@expressindia.com