New Delhi: Delihi cricketers including Indian Test team captain Virat Kohli has came out strongly in support of Finance Minister and former DDCA president Arun Jaitley.
Kohli said that Jaitley, who has been accused by AAP of turning a blind eye to the alleged financial irregularities during his tenure as head of the cricket body, had done a lot of good things for Delhi cricket and for the players.
"Grateful to have @arunjaitley ji as the president of our association. He has always wanted to improve the game & help cricketers in everyway," Kohli tweeted yesterday.
Jaitley, who headed DDCA for 13 years till 2013, has been accused of not acting on the alleged corrupt activities in the DDCA during his tenure. The AAP government in Delhi has demanded that Jaitley should resign or be removed from the union cabinet to enable an independent probe.
Besides Kohli, biggest stars of the India, cricket team like Shikhar Dhawan, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir came forward to extend support to Jaitley.
Claiming that players under Jaitley were always benefited, Dhawan tweeted, "@arunjaitley Ji always ensured top facilities for Delhi cricketers and players like me, from humble background always benefited under him."
Gambhir said that it is inappropriate to blame Jaitley for corruption in DDCA.
"Appalling to note some ex-players blame @arunjaitley ji for all that's wrong in DDCA. Whereas they enjoyed plum posts in DDCA coz of him," Gambhir said in a tweet.
"Grossly inappropriate 2 blame @arunjaitley ji 4 corruption in DDCA. He was d one who got Delhi a proper stadium without taxpayer's money," Gambhir's another tweet reads.
Sehwag, on his part, lauded Jaitley for being there for the players. The swashbuckling batsman, who switched loyalties to Haryana from Delhi and retired from international cricket earlier this year, steered clear of making any political claim but lauded Jaitley's role in helping players.
"Was a nightmare to speak to some others at DDCA but @arunjaitley ji was always available for players in case of any difficulty at any time," Sehwag tweeted.
"And @arunjaitley Ji would immediately ensure correction and justice for the deserving players at #DDCA," he tweeted. "In my time with DDCA if I ever came to know of any 'surprising' selection of a player, all I needed to do was to inform @arunjaitley."
Another Delhi payer and Team India pacer Ishant Sharma also threw his weight behind under-fire former DDCA president, saying "@arunjaitley ji has always been helpful, fair and kind in all my interactions with him #DDCA."
Meanwhile, Jaitley has said that he will file a civil and criminal defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party. The 5 AAP leaders are Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai.
"No legal notice would be sent to the Delhi chief minister. Apart from Kejriwal, a defamation case will also be filed against Kirti Azad. Cases will be also filed against other AAP leaders. The civil defamation case will be filed in the high court and the criminal case will be filed in the Patiala court," said a Bharatiya Janata Party source.
Jaitley, who headed the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for 13 years till 2013, has been accused of corruption by Delhi's ruling AAP.
