Indian sportspersons have been making a pitch in politics, no doubt some of them have become successful politicians. Now that election season is around the corner, it seems politics is slowly becoming the go-to the profession after retirement for sportsperson.
Here’s the list of Indian sportspersons who are likely to contest the Lok Sabha Elections 2019:
1. Navjot Singh Sidhu
Navjot Singh Sidhu, played 51 Tests for the Indian team, having made his debut in 1983. He also represented the team in 134 ODIs.
He took a jump from cricket to comedy and also to politics. Sidhu joined the BJP in 2004, he has been successful in the political arena as well, having won the Lok Sabha elections twice. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 from Punjab before he resigned from the position the same year and quitting the party. Later in 2017, Sidhu joined the Congress party stating that the BJP-Akali Dal coalition government in Punjab failed to control the drug menace. He also formed a party of his own, named ‘Awaaz-e-Punjab’.
The cricket turned politician was attacked over his decision to hug Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army during the opening of the Kartarpur corridor. Lately, Sidhu also faced criticism for his controversial comments on the Pulwama terror attack.
He is currently the member of legislative assembly (MLA) from Amritsar East seat.
2. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore
Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore AVSM is an Indian politician and former Olympian. Rathore is a Member of Parliament in Lok Sabha from Jaipur Rural seat.
As of March 2019, he is the Minister of State for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Government of India.
3. Gautam Gambhir
With the general elections less than a month away, former India opener Gautam Gambhir joined the Bharatiya Janta Party.
Addressing the media after joining the party, Gambhir said that he was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was honoured to join the party. The party hasn’t revealed yet whether the cricketer will contest the upcoming national elections.
4. Bhaichung Bhutia
A former Indian footballer from the state of Sikkim, who played as a striker. Bhutia is considered to be the torchbearer of Indian football in the international arena.
The iconic former football’s Hamro Sikkim Party or HSP will contest all 32 Assembly seats and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim.
In a press conference he stated that his party has coined the slogan ”Hamro Sikkim, New Sikkim” for its poll campaigns.
5. Kirti Azad
Kirti Azad was part of the 1983 World Cup winning team and is the son of former chief minister of Bihar, Bhagwat Jha Azad. Though Kirti Azad’s father was a veteran Congress leader, Kirti decided to join the BJP and won from the Darbhanga seat.
However, Kirti Azad was expelled from the BJP in the year 2015 after he levelled corruption charges on Arun Jaitley run DDCA. Kirti Azad joined the Congress party in 2019 in presence of party president Rahul Gandhi and is the sitting MP from Darbhanga.
6. Mohammad Azharuddin
The former Indian captain started his political journey by joining Congress in 2009. He contested in the 2014 general elections from Tonk-Madhopur constituency in Rajasthan, but lost to the BJP’s candidate by almost 1.35 lakh votes.
In November 2018, the 56-year-old was appointed as the working president of the Congress in Telangana. Mohammad Azharuddin may contest against Asaduddin Owaisi from Hyderabad.
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