Pitch to politics: 2 cricketers become ministers in different Cong govts

Hyderabad: Mohammad Azharuddin, who was included in the Telangana cabinet on Friday, became the second former top cricketer to be made minister in a Congress government, the first being Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Congress is not the only party where cricketers flourished in politics. Parties like BJP and Trinamool Congress made cricketers MPs and even ministers.

Congress leader and former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin was sworn in as a minister in CM A Revanth Reddy’s Cabinet.

Azharuddin began his political journey with Congress and became Lok Sabha member from Moradabad , Uttar Pradesh in 2009. However, he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election in the Tonk–Sawai Madhopur constituency in Rajasthan.

Azharuddin was, in November 2023, appointed working president of the party in Telangana days ahead of Assembly elections in the southern state.

The former cricketer unsuccessfully contested Jubilee Hills Assembly polls in November 2023.

He was nominated as a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) under the Governor’s quota by the Telangana government in August last week. However, the Governor Jishnu Dev Varma is yet to clear the appointment.

Former Indian opener Sidhu, who opened his political innings with the BJP, later switched loyalties to the Congress and became a minister in the Cabinet headed by former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in 2017. The former Punjab Congress chief, however, has not been actively participating in the party’s events and activities for the past several months. He was defeated in 2022 Punjab Assembly polls.

Sidhu was also elected to Lok Sabha in 2004 and served as Rajya Sabha member in 2016 from BJP. Besides other popular cricketers Kirti Azad, Chetan Chauhan and Gautam Gambhir, among others, chose a different political platform. WITH AGENCY INPUTS