Cricket: Tendulkar confirmed as MP

NEW DEHLI: The Indian president has approved a request from the country’s prime minister recommending Sachin Tendulkar to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament. Tendulkar, who turned 39 this week, and his wife had called on ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi at her residence — a meeting described as a ‘courtesy visit’ by the local media. The vast majority of the 250 seats in the upper house are filled by members elected by the legislatures in their home states. But 12 lie in the favour of the president and are normally awarded to people who have excelled in such fields as the arts, science and sport.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2012.