Relief for Azharuddin as court strikes down ban

Twelve years after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) imposed a ban for life-time on former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin, the Andhra Pradesh High Court Thursday struck it down as "illegal".

In a major relief to the cricketer-turned-politician, a division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court set aside the order of a lower court which had upheld the ban.

It was on Dec 5, 2000, that the BCCI banned Azhar from playing professional cricket for the rest of his life after he was found guilty of match-fixing charges.

The Hyderabadi had challenged the Indian cricket board's decision in the city civil court, which upheld the ban. He then moved to high court against the lower court's order, his lawyers arguing that BCCI imposed the ban without any evidence.

The 49-year-old is currently a member of the Lok Sabha from the Moradabad constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

The court verdict has come as a major relief to Azhar, who had always maintained that the ban on him was unfair and the BCCI's decision was unilateral. The BCCI then had banned Azhar and Ajay Sharma for life and imposed a five-year ban on Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar.

The BCCI move came after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which probed the match-fixing scandal, accused these players of having links with bookies and of under-performing in return for huge sums of money.

The match-fixing scandal came to light after then South Africa captain Hansie Cronje, in his confession, claimed that Azhar had introduced him to the bookies.

Azhar, one of India's most successful captains nd prolific batsmen, played 99 Tests and scored 6,215 runs during his career. He also played 334 One-Day Internationals scoring 9,378 runs in his 15-year international career.

The wristy batsman had taken the world of cricket by storm in 1984-85 with a world record of three consecutive centuries in three Tests on his debut against England.

He entered politics a few months before 2009 elections by joining the Congress party and was elected to the Lok Sabha.

No prime ministerial ambitions: Advani

 On his 85th birthday, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Thursday brushed away suggestions of his wanting to be the party's prime ministerial candidate.

"The party and the country have given me so much, it is much more than becoming the prime minister," Advani told reporters.

Advani is known to nurse prime ministerial ambitions and during the 2009 general elections he had gone on a countrywide rath yatra to connect with people.

Among those who went to greet Advani were party chief Nitin Gadkari, who is under attack for alleged financial impropriety in the funding of his Purti Group.

Advani had not gone for the BJP core group meeting on Tuesday to decide on the future of Gadkari in the wake of allegations against him. The party has reposed faith in Gadkari's leadership and said he has done "no legal or moral wrong".

However, Advani supported Gadkari in a blog last month, where he congratulated the BJP chief on saying he was open to a probe.

CAG should plug leaks from his office: Digvijay

 Congress leader Digvijay Singh Thursdaytook a dig at the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for his "valuable advice" on providing constitutional backing for the CBI and the CVC but wondered why he was not taking steps to "stop leaks of reports" from his office.

He was addressing reporters a day after CAG Vinod Rai said theCentral Bureau of Investigation and the Central Vigilance Commission should be given constitutional backing to enable them to function independently.

"The CAG keeps giving the government valuable advice but why he is not doing anything to stop the leaks of reports," Digvijay Singh said.

He added that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had been pressing for constitutional status for the Lokpal, "but the BJP is opposed to it".

Digvijay Singh had tweeted a few days ago: "CAG interim report again leaked. Would CAG instead of sermonising every one please look into his Leaky Office."

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said Rai's remark applied to the CAG himself.

"If he (Vinod Rai) talks about brazenness in decision-making and it refers to the time period of this particular government, I think it would be worth its while to recall that he (Rai) was part of the same government from 2004 to 2008," Tewari told reporters.

"So, I guess that when he talks about brazenness, that paradigm equally applies across the board to everybody who is part of the government," Tewari added.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the CAG's suggestions, made at the World Economic Forum Wednesday evening, were important.

"That the CBI and the CVC need to be given constitutional status is an important suggestion, and the nation must debate on it," said Javadekar.

The government is under attack for alleged corruption in the allocation of 2G spectrum and coal blocks following leakage of the relevant reports of the CAG which said these had led to huge losses to the exchequer.