Cricketer and BJP politician S Sreesanth announced that he plans to contest the 2024 general elections from Thiruvananthapuram seat in Kerala. In an interview to The Indian Express, Sreesanth exuded confidence that he will defeat Congress leader Shashi Tharoor from the seat in the next elections.
“I am a huge fan of his as a person who had stood by me but I will defeat him in the elections in Thiruvananthapuram,” he said. “No doubt about it,” the pacer added.
A writer and a former career international diplomat, Tharoor has been representing the Thiruvananthapuram seat in the Lok Sabha since 2009. Earlier in March this year, Sreesanth has visited Tharoor at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram. At that time, Tharoor had described him as one of the best bowlers India has produced and called him a proud icon of Kerala. “Happy to know his ban has been revoked. Wishing him all success for the wickets ahead!” he had tweeted.
Sreesanth said that he is working to expand his outreach among the masses and gain their support. He said that his future plans include a web-series about his life, an autobiography, movies and one final cricket game before he calls it a day.
To a question about his involvement in fixing, he said, “I haven’t done it (spot-fixed in a game). I will never do it even for 100 crores.” He added that his family members haven’t given up hope of watching him in a match.
“My mother and father will be there, my wife has been visualising the moment for a long time, so will be my children,” he said.
Sreesanth played all forms of the game before he was banned for life after spot-fixing in the 2013 Indian Premier League. In IPL, he played for Rajasthan Royals. The ban was, however, reduced to seven years in August 2019.
The right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler had joined the BJP in 2016, just ahead of the Assembly elections in Kerala. The BJP had fielded him from Thiruvananthapuram seat. He had lost the election to VS?Sivakumar of the Congress by 11,710 votes. He had secured just 34,764 votes.