Cong welcomes former cricketer Azharuddin in its fold

NEW DELHI: The Congress
has welcomed former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin saying that he has been a fine cricketer. Azharuddin is now all set to
contest the coming Lok Sabha polls on a Congress ticket.

Earlier, sources had told Times Now that Azharuddin had shown interest in contesting elections “from a prestigious seat”, and the Congress was open to the idea.

According to reports, Azharuddin had recently met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, where he expressed his desire to contest the upcoming elections.

Speculation was rife in February last year that he may either join or campaign for the Telangana Rashtra Samiti in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls. The talk was sparked by the hour-long luncheon meeting he had with TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao at the home of an Urdu newspaper's editor.

Azharuddin, however, denied any such plans, and said that he was only interested in giving something back to cricket.

The former cricketer has been involved in business ventures like running an event management company and setting up a health club in the up market Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad.