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.

Sonia to open Congress strategy meet Nov 9

 Congress president Sonia Gandhi will open the party's review cum strategy meet on Friday with her remarks on the current political situation, party leaders said Thursday.

The informal meet, billed as "Samvad baithak" (dialogue meet) will be held at Surajkund near Delhi.

"The Congress chief's opening remarks about the current political situation will form the basis of the debate," Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters here.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will address the meeting next on the economic challenges facing the country," said Dwivedi.

While Finance Minister P. Chidambaram will initiate the debate on the economic challenges after the prime minister has spoken, any leaders wishing to speak on the political issues will be allowed to do so during the meet itself, said Dwivedi.

The third and last item on the agenda of the meet will be a performance review of the party's 2009 manifesto and a roadmap for the future.

The meeting will end with Sonia Gandhi's remarks.

"All the issues are likely to take up around six hours, and it is going to be a working lunch for us, to have more time for the debate," said Dwivedi.

The meeting will be attended by party leaders, including 19 Congress Working Committee members among whom are general secretaries in charge of states, 16 permanent invitees to CWC, 23 cabinet ministers and 12 ministers of state with independent charge.

Coming after the Oct 28 reshuffle of the Manmohan Singh cabinet, the meet is being described in Congress circles as a "review cum strategy" session.