After its grand victory in Punjab and Bhagwant Mann’s sworn in ceremony as the state’s Chief minister on Wednesday, the Aam Aadmi Party is now getting ready for its upcoming biennial elections.
It is speculated that former Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh may be one the members who will be elected for the upper house elections in Punjab from the AAP party.
In his recent speech as Chief Minister, Mann made a promised to set up a Sports University in Jalandhar. There seems to be high chance that AAP government may give the charge of the said university to Harbhajan Singh.
Elections to five of Punjab’s seven Rajya Sabha seats will be contested on March 31, according to the Election Commission. The deadline for nominations is March 21. Several high-level discussions have been held in Delhi in recent days to choose five candidates for the Upper House.
AAP on other eligible candidates
Other than Harbhajan, some more names doing the round for the seats are of senior party leader Raghav Chadha, and IIT-Delhi Associate Professor Sandeep Pathak. For Raghav Chadha, the party said, that he has been associated with the AAP party for many years now and has shown significant growth in his ranks.
He is already an MLA from Delhi, but the party feels he has great potential and would add more value in the Rajya Sabha with his presence. As for Sandeep Pathak, the party said that ‘he is an analyst and a strategist who assisted the party from behind the scenes during the Punjab Poll.’ A party official also said that ‘Being a teacher in IIT-Delhi, he also fits the profile that AAP has been keen on promoting.’
Harbhajan Singh on Bhagwant Mann’s Victory
After Mann’s win in Punjab, Harbhajan took to twitter to congratulate him and also called him his friend. He was one of the first celebrities to congratulate Mann. He also said that Mann’s victory is a proud moment for ‘Maataji’ referring to Mann’s mother and shared their picture on his twitter.
Singh and his career as a Cricketer
- Born on 3rd July 1980, Harbhajan Singh also called as “Bhajji” played cricket for Indian national cricket team from 1998-2016. He was famous for his special spin bowling skills.
- He has been captain of the IPL team Mumbai Indians, where under his captaincy the team won the 2011 Champions League Twenty20.
- He also captioned Punjab for the 2012-13 Ranji Trophy season.
- His career initially involved many controversies and several disciplinary incidents.
- However, in 2001, Saurav Ganguly included him in the team after anil Kumble’s leg injury and that became a monumental moment for Singh’s career.
- He went on to take 32 wickets in the match, becoming the first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in Test-Cricket.
- He is known as the ace spinner because of that performance.
- In 2008, he was banned by International Cricket Council (ICC) for passing on racial comments, and later suspended from the ODI team of IPL in the same year by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for slapping a fellow team player.
- Harbhajan has done commentary for various cricket matches as well.
- In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour.
Retirement from Cricket
- Harbhajan Singh, has taken over 700 wickets in an international career spanning over 18 years.
- He recently retired from the sport in December 2021.
- After his retirement, Singh has been active and vocal about his views on twitter.
- If he becomes a Rajya Sabha member, Singh, 41, will enter a list of former sportspersons who have served as MPs, such as Sachin Tendulkar.
Published By : Ankit Singh
Edited By : Khushi Thakur
