Defending his criticism of Sachin Tendulkar,Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray advised the cricketer to refrain from dabbling in politics and stick to cricket. He was addressing corporators from the Mumbai and Thane municipal corporations on Friday. Thackeray had earlier criticised Tendulkar in Sena mouthpiece Saamna for his comments about Mumbai belonging to India. According to Sena sources,who attended the closed-door meeting held at the party headquarters of Sena Bhavan at Dadar,the Sena chief said though he liked Tendulkar as a player,he had advised him to stick to the cricket field and stay away from the political arena. Referring to Tendulkars comments on Mumbai belonging to India,Thackeray said he and the Sena had strived for Mumbai and added that he had advised Tendulkar as an elder. The Sena supremo also told the corporators that his words were akin to a bullet that could not be recalled once it was fired,sources said. Thackeray also formally announced the candidature of former Leader of the Opposition Ramdas Kadam for the Mumbai local self-government authorities constituency. He said any disgruntlement within the Sena would not affect the partys chances in the polls. Thackeray said the Mayor would not go on foreign tours without his consent.
