Cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who retired in December last year, has started his new innings by joining Bhartiya Janta Party today, in presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad. The former opener batsman cited PM Modi’s vision for the country as the reason for him joining the party.
Delhi: Former Cricketer Gautam Gambhir joins Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad pic.twitter.com/EYmhfSSMy7
— ANI (@ANI) March 22, 2019
Gautam Gambhir is a resident of Rajendra Nagar in Delhi and reports are speculating that he might contest Lok Sabha elections from New Delhi seat, currently held by BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi. The New Delhi seat has been considered a bastion for the BJP, making it first choice of all leader contesting from Delhi. Gambhir, however, has stated that he has a young family and needs to spend time with them.
BJP is yet to declare the name of candidates for the seven Lok Sabha seats and is reported to announce it soon as its rival Aam Aadmi Party has already done so.
Gautam Gambhir was conferred with the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri, earlier this month. Gambhir had debuted in April 2003 as a cricket player and played for team India for 15 years. During tenure he played, 58 test-matches scoring 9 centuries and 147 ODIs scoring 11 centuries.
Gautam Gambhir has been vocal about national security and armed forces and on issues like Kashmir. In 2017, Gautam Gambhir had pledged to bear all the educational expenses of the children of the 25 CRPF jawans who were martyred in Sukma on 24th April.
Gambhir is popular on Twitter and is often in the news for his support of the Indian armed forces. He has over 9 million followers on Twitter.
