New Delhi: Former Union minister and BJP leader Sanjay Paswan raised many eyebrows Friday when he said that cricketer MS Dhoni may join the BJP after retiring from cricket.
Paswan claimed that Dhoni might soon begin his new innings in politics as part of ‘Team Narendra Modi’.
He added that this possibility has been long discussed in the party ranks. “On this issue, there has been a discussion for long, although this decision will be taken only after his retirement,” Paswan said.
Dhoni was one of the celebrities whom BJP chief Amit Shah visited in his “Sampark for Samarthan” programme ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The elections in Dhoni’s home state Jharkhand are scheduled to take place later this year. It is believed that Dhoni may even be the chief ministerial face of the BJP in the coming Jharkhand polls.
This comes after India’s heart-wrenching defeat to New Zealand in the semifinal of the ongoing World Cup. India’s worst fears came true Wednesday as they suffered a top-order collapse during their chase of 240 at the Old Trafford in Manchester, thus losing the match by 18 runs.
There was intense clamour around Dhoni’s retirement plans during and in run up to the World Cup.
When skipper Virat Kohli was addressing the media after the semifinal, he was asked if the team had any information on Dhoni’s future plans or if the former India skipper had communicated anything to the team. Kohli kept it short, “No, he hasn’t.”