Bishan Singh Bedi quits DDCA over installation of Arun Jaitley statue at Feroz Shah Kotla

Former cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi has announced that he is giving up the membership of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) after it decided to install a statue of its former President Arun Jaitley at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground. Slamming this decision by the DDCA, Bedi has asked the body to remove his name from spectators' stand of the stadium. The stand was named after the former spinner in 2017.

Bedi has alleged that the DDCA is promoting nepotism and is putting "administrators ahead of cricketers". Bedi renounced his membership in a scathing letter addressed to DDCA President Rohan Jaitley, who is the son of former NDA Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Arun Jaitley had passed away last year owing to multiple health issues.

Bedi wrote, "I pride myself as a man of immense tolerance and patience... but all that I'm afraid, is running out. DDCA has truly tested me and forced me to take this drastic action". He added, "So, Mr President I request you to remove my name from the stand named after me with immediate effect. Also, I hereby renounce my DDCA membership".

He explained that he was never a fan of how Arun Jaitley managed things at the DDCA during his tenure. Bedi added that he always opposed any of Jaitley's decisions he did not agree on.

"My reservations about the choice of people he hand-picked to run the day to day affairs of DDCA is well known. I remember walking out from a meeting at his residence whence he was unable to throw out a rowdy element using terribly foul language," Bedi explained.

Bedi detailed his reaction to the decision of the DDCA to install a statue of Arun Jaitley at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground. He wrote, "Now I gather a statue of Late Arun Jaitley is going to be installed at the Kotla. I'm not at all enamoured with the thought of a statue of Arun Jaitley coming up at Kotla."

Explaining his discomfort with the decision he wrote, "...Sporting arenas need sporting role models. The place of the administrators is in their glass cabins."

He slammed the DDCA for not understanding cricket culture. He wrote: "Since DDCA doesn't understand this Universal cricket culture, I need to walk out of it. I can't be part of a stadium which has got its priorities so grossly wrong & where administrators get precedence over the cricketers."

"Please bring down my name from the stand with immediate effect," he added.

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