- Saturday, March 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
A lawmaker in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has requested the state’s government to ban Chennai Super Kings (CSK), one of the most successful franchises of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), alleging that it does not feature any local player.
SP Venkateshwaran, a member of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) political party representing the constituency of Dharmapuri in northern Tamil Nadu, made his remark during demand for grants in the state assembly for the state’s sports and youth welfare department.
Later, speaking to the media, the legislator said he just reflected the public sentiment, The Indian Express reported.
“A lot of youngsters are watching IPL with lots of interest. Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu. Our leader Ayya (Dr Ramadoss who is the founder of the PMK) has launched a campaign ‘In search of Tamil’ to raise awareness among youth about the importance of protecting the Tamil language. A lot of people contacted me and said they are hurt that despite keeping Chennai as part of its team name, it does not provide opportunities for our talented native players, and it should be banned,” Venkateshwaran was quoted as saying by the daily.
“I just echoed the sentiments of the people in the Assembly today. They are making profits from our people by projecting as if they represent Tamil Nadu but there are no Tamil Nadu players (in the team). I want more people from our state to be part of the team,” he told the media.
Chennai is captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, former India captain who hails from the northern state of Jharkhand.
