Cricketer and BJP politician Santhakumaran Sreesanth has claimed that he will be fighting the General Elections 2024 from Thiruvananthapuram constituency against eminent Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. Sreesanth’s statement has appeared in an exclusive interview in the Indian Express.
Appearing upbeat about his chances against Tharoor, Sreesanth said that he will defeat the three-time MP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
”I am a big fan of his as a person who stood by me but I will defeat him in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Sreesanth added.
The fast bowler said that he is toiling to increase his outreach among the people and win their support. He also stated about his future plans that included a web-series about his life, an autobiography, movies and one final cricket game before he hangs his boots.
Earlier in the year, when Sreesanth had visited Tharoor at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram, Tharoor had hailed him as one of the best bowlers India has produced and had called him a proud icon of Kerala. The meeting came at a time when the ban imposed on Sreesanth for his alleged involvement in match-fixing was revoked. “Happy to know his ban has been revoked. Wishing him all success for the wickets ahead!” Tharoor had tweeted.
It is notable to mention that Sreesanth and two other Rajasthan Royals players were banned for life over alleged involvement in betting and spot-fixing following a 2013 scandal in the Indian Premier League. However, the apex court had lifted the life-ban on the cricketer and pulled up the BCCI for the botchy handling of the betting and the match-fixing case.
Sreesanth had joined BJP in 2016. Though the RSS had reservations about the cricketer’s candidature, BJP had finally declared Sreesanth as a candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram assembly seat for 2016 Kerala assembly elections. Sreesanth had lost the seat to Congress’ VS Sivakumar by 11,710 votes.