New Delhi: Facing allegations of corruption, under-fire former Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) President Arun Jaitley on Sunday got the backing of the two biggest stars to emerge from the state-- Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
Finance Minister Jaitley, who headed DDCA for 13 years till 2013, has been accused of corruption by the Delhi Government during his tenure. The state government has demanded that Jaitley must resign or be "removed" from the union cabinet to enable an independent probe.
However, Gambhir and Sehwag came out strongly in support of Jaitley.
"Grossly inappropriate 2 blame @arunjaitley ji 4 corruption in DDCA. He was d one who got Delhi a proper stadium widout taxpayer's money. Appalling to note some ex-players blame @arunjaitley ji for all that's wrong in DDCA. Whereas dey enjoyed plum posts in DDCA coz of him," tweeted Gambhir.
Sehwag, on his part, lauded Jaitley for being there for players. The swashbuckling batsman, who switched loyalties to Haryana from Delhi and retired from international cricket earlier this year, steered clear of making any political claim but lauded Jaitley's role in helping players.
"In my time with DDCA if I ever came to know of any 'surprising' selection of a player, all I needed to do was to inform @arunjaitley," Sehwag wrote.
"And @arunjaitley Ji would immediately ensure correction and justice for the deserving players at #DDCA...Was a nightmare to speak to some others at DDCA but @arunjaitley ji was always available for players in case of any difficulty at any time," he added.
Another Delhi player, pacer Ishant Sharma also backed Jaitley.
"Arun Jaitley ji has always been helpful, fair and kind in all my interactions with him #DDCA," he tweeted.
Jaitley has rejected all the charges against him. Gambhir said things have gone from bad to worse in the DDCA ever since Jaitley stepped down as President.
"I think, things have gone really bad after he vacated the post. If you look at the sort of preparation that was there ahead of the first class season this year, there was no bowlers, no wickets or nets, such things never happened when Jaitley ji was president. So you have to say that things were good when he was there," Gambhir pointed out.
"I don't know whether there is any corruption or not, I just think, the current officials should not be there because they never think about cricket. Situation was much better earlier. Things have never been so bad in DDCA in the last two years. There is no one whom you can go to now.
"Today all allegations are levelled on Jaitley not on DDCA. My question is he didn't run DDCA alone and even if he would have, things were much better then," he added.
