Gavaskar, not Sachin Tendulkar, a true Maharashtrian: Sena

Mumbai, Nov 22 : The Shiv Sena yet again struck a blow on Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar on Sunday, alleging that he has done nothing for Marathis.

' There has been no instance of Sachin extending a helping hand to other Marathi cricketers. Forget others he did not even support Vinod Kambli. In contrast, (Sunil) Gavaskar, when he captained India, had half the team drawn from Mumbai and Maharashtra. He gave Test caps to many Marathi players including Suru Naik and Zulphikar Parkar at least for one match,' he said, while also acknowledging Tendulkar' s greatness as a cricketer,' Sena MP Sanjay Raut wrote in an article published in party mouthpiece ' Saamna' .

' In this context, Gavaskar is a genuine Maharashtrian and the whole country loves him even now in the same way.

' Players like Sachin have become rich because of game of cricket. Sachin' s wealth has crossed Rs 200-crore mark. He plays for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), not for India,' Raut said in his article.

He further wrote, ' Rahul Dravid too is a Marathi player but he is loyal to Karnataka.'

' We expect Sachin to be as proud of Maharashtra as Saurav Ganguly is of Bengal,' he said.

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