Its time that cricket be cleaned up: Smriti

Panaji: In the back drop of the IPL spot fixing scandal, BJP National Vice President Smriti Irani on Wednesday, said that time has come to clean-up the ‘scar’ on cricket and restore the dignity of the game.

"The sport of cricket is bigger than any individual considering that it has been a religion in the country. This is the time when the game be cleaned up and guilty be brought to justice. There is need to remove the scar on cricket and its dignity be restored soon," Irani told reporters here stating that her comments on the IPL controversy were purely individual. "Cricket scam is a sad thing because people have faith in cricketers," she said. Stringent laws should be framed (for anti-spot fixing and betting) and we have already communicated this to the government, the BJP leader said. Irani, who is also the Goa desk in-charge, was in the state to oversee the preparations of the party`s national executive meeting scheduled here from June 7 when the party will discuss political and economic solutions for the challenges before the country. She also said that the BJP will give equal representation to women during ticket distribution for the Lok Sabha elections. "Our party has always given equal representation to women. In this Lok Sabha polls too, equal representation will be given to women considering the fact that 50 per cent voters in the country are women," she said. While refraining to mention the exact percentage of tickets that would be allotted to women in the forthcoming LS polls, Irani said that it is for the party`s Parliamentary Board to take the decision on it. She pointed out that BJP is the only party which has 33 per cent reservation for women in the organisation. The party will have a "spectacular victory" in the next parliamentary elections, Irani claimed. PTI