Sachin Tendulkar plays for BCCI, not India: Sena

Mumbai, Nov 22 : After Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, senior party leader Sanjay Raut slammed Sachin Tendulkar and said he plays for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and not India.

'Sachin plays for BCCI, not India,' Raut wrote in the Sunday edition of the party' s mouthpiece ' Saamna' .

Meanwhile, Congress has condemned Raut' s comments on Tendulkar.

' I condemn Raut' s comments. The Shiv Sena is losing its votebank by slamming Tendulkar,' said Congress MP Rajiv Shukla.

' Shive Sena' s comments are against Bal Gangadhar Tilak' s ideologies,' Shukla added.

Earlier, on Nov 16, Bal Thackeray slammed Tendulkar for calling himself an Indian before being a Maharashtrian.

In an editorial published in ' Saamna' , Thackeray said the cricket maestro has been run out on the Marathi pitch. The leader also advised the Master Blaster to stay away from politics.

' You have played like a king and become a multi-millionaire, no one has issues with that. But at a press conference, you said you are proud of being Marathi but are an Indian first. This has hurt Marathi people,' he wrote.

' He has hurt the Marathi Manoos sentiments. Sachin should just take care of cricket and stay away from politics. When Marathis shed their blood for Mumbai you weren' t even born,' he added.