By IANS
New Delhi : Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav Thursday described the auctioning of cricket players by the Indian Premier League (IPL) as a national shame.
Speaking to reporters here, Yadav said: “It was a day of national shame when cricketers were put on auction for sale by big money of the country. It was a gross violation of human dignity and shameless demonstration of money power.”
The IPL bidding for cricketers – both Indian and international- was held Wednesday in which film stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta, industrialists Ness Wadia and Vijay Malya put millions of rupees to win over cricketers to play for their teams.
“What is most shocking in this auction was that it was done in the full public view in a very shameful manner,” Yadav said. He blamed the failure of the government’s sports policy for this state of affairs.
Yadav demanded the withdrawal of all medals, honours, citations and freebies given to “all those Indian cricketers who have put themselves in market for their auction”.
He said the union and the state governments had spent a lot of money to give assistance to these players in the past.
The leader suggested that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) should be taken over by the government, as it had become a “den of conspiracy and intrigues”.