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No Fear No Favour

Will Dhoni get Padma Bhushan this time?

Once more, MS Dhoni has been nominated  by The Board of control (BCCI)  for country’s third highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan. The former India captain’s name has been rejected twice for the same in 2013 and 2016 According to highly-placed sources in the sports ministry, Dhoni’s chances of making it to the prestigious award even this time around are bleak. This is due to his name being repeatedly discussed during the trial into the Indian Premier League(IPL) spot-fixing case in the Supreme court The government had no reason why the cricketer was not conferred with the honour.

In less than six months (March 2017) after the central government rejected Dhoni’s name along with that of controversial figure Gurmeet Ram Rahim who was nominated under the sports category, BCCI has pushed former India skipper’s name once again for the Padma Bhushan award.

Dhoni is already a recipient of the prestigious Arjuna, Rajeev Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri awards. If he is conferred with Padma Bhushan, he will become the 11th Indian cricketer to get the third highest civilian honour.

On Wednesday, a ministry official who was involved in scrutiny of Dhoni’s name last time around told, “As per Justice Mukul Mudgal-led inquiry committee report, Dhoni had no qualms about accepting the vice-president’s post in India Cements, the company owned by his team’s owner and then president N Srinivasan.” He continued, “Moreover, it is also no secret that Dhoni lied before the enquiry committee about accused Gurunath Meiyappan’s status in Chennai Super Kings.”

Another official further added by saying, “Dhoni’s name was never discussed in any of the recent BCCI meetings, this is between CEO and COA.”

Meanwhile, the Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) has filed an application in the Apex court to reveal names in the “sealed envelope” concerning the IPL spot-fixing controversy in order to cleanse the game.

After which CAB secretary Aditya Verma said, “We all know that there are 13 names in that envelope. Out of those, four or five were also revealed by the Hon’ble court. It is high time that other names should also be made public to save cricket in India.”

 

By: Aviral Nigam

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