Mumbai: NCP president Sharad Pawar on Friday endorsed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s view that politics and sports should not be mixed, saying he never did it during his long association with sports bodies.
"I have been associated with sports for many years but never brought politics into sport. Prime Minister is right when he says that politics should not be mixed with sports," he told a news conference. Pawar was asked to comment on the raging spot-fixing and betting controversy which has rocked Indian Premier League with even team owners coming under a cloud.
Pawar, a former president of the Indian Cricket Board as also the game`s topmost governing body ICC, however, refused to make any comment on the ongoing crisis in IPL. "Right now I am not associated with BCCI (so I should not comment). I may be with some sports body in the future," the NCP leader said.
Pawar, also a Union minister, is reportedly planning a comeback as a cricket administrator by becoming president of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
"It is not proper for me to comment. I only hope that politics and sports don`t get mixed," the Prime Minister had told the media on his way back to India from a visit to Japan and Thailand on May 31 when asked whether government was contemplating to intervene following the spot-fixing scandal.
PTI