CPI(M) asks Tendulkar not to associate with Himachal cricket body

The Himachal Pradesh committee of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Wednesday asked batting great Sachin Tendulkar to distance himself from the state cricket body as it was facing charges of cheating and fraud.

"We urge Sachin Tendulkar not to associate with people who are being charged with cheating and fraud committed in the state," state secretariat member Takinder Panwar said in a statement.

"The name of Sachin Tendulkar is being misused to divert the attention of the people who are waiting for stern action against the land grabbers," he said, adding that the main agenda of the HPCA has been to grab land in the state instead of promoting cricket.

The HPCA Monday decided to construct a museum dedicated to at its showpiece venue in Dharamsala, located at an altitude of 4,000 feet above sea level with the mighty snow-clad Dhauladhars forming the backdrop.

Panwar, who is deputy mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation, said in the name opening cricket academies, the cricket association has grabbed the prime and common land of the people, that too at throw-away prices.

The state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in August filed a cheating and misappropriation case against the HPCA, headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, over alleged wrong-doings in allotment of land to the sports body for constructing a residential complex for the players near its stadium in Dharamsala, some 250 km from here.

The disputed land, three km from the picturesque stadium, has been used by the HPCA to build a five-star residential complex called The Pavilion, which has 38 rooms, 32 huts and a high-tech gym. The HPCA website calls it an "exotic residential resort".