Meira Kumar hails Sachin's nomination to Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Apr 27 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday hailed the proposal to nominate Sachin Tendulkar to Rajya Sabha.

Kumar said Tendulkar's entry as a lawmaker would strike balance in the parliament between politicians and people from other fields of public life.

"He is a very capable person. The whole country has seen that he fulfils his responsibility with all his capability. We are very happy that he is coming in the parliament," said Kumar.

Lawmaker and leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Gurudas Dasgupta while welcoming this move observed that Sourav Ganguly should have been also considered as a nominated member of Rajya Sabha.

"We are very happy that he is coming in the parliament. It is a real recognition of a sports talent. However, Sourav Ganguly should have also been considered, when he was in the top form and when he was the captain of India. When he did splendid performances, his case should also have been considered," said Gurudas Dasgupta.

Lawmaker and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh also joined the chorus and heralded the nomination of Sachin Tendulkar.

"As far as his nomination is concerned, I agree with it. I feel that people who excel in their fields and who are well-known in the country, should be nominated and therefore, it is a good nomination," said Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Earlier, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil approved the name Sachin Tendulkar for becoming the member of Rajya Sabha.

Apart from Tendulkar, the names of veteran actress Rekha and industrialist turned social activist Anu Aga were also proposed as nominated members of Rajya Sabha.

Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the first player to score a double century in ODI cricket.

In 2002, just 12 years into his career, Wisden ranked Tendulkar the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Donald Bradman, and the second greatest one-day-international (ODI) batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. He was also a part of the 2011 Cricket World Cup winning Indian team. (ANI)