Greater | SilverScorpio.Com

Australia, India sign AUD 25 billion Gorgon LNG Deal

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug.19 (ANI): Australia and India have signed their first ever long-term LNG contract. A Sales and Purchase Agreement between ExxonMobil and Petronet LNG of India was completed on August 10, 2009.

Welcoming the agreement, Australia’s Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson AM MP said: “This deal, worth more than AUD 25 billion over 20 years, represents the dawning of a new trading partnership between Australia and India, and brings the Gorgon gas development yet another step closer to fruition”.

“I hope this new partnership with India will grow to be as significant as our LNG export trade with our friends in East and North East Asia” he added.

Signed on 10 August in Perth, the Agreement will see around 1.5 million tonnes of LNG from the Gorgon project sold into India annually over a 20-year term.

According to a press release of the Australian High Commission here, the Gorgon LNG project will become the largest single investment ever undertaken in Australia. The project is being developed by the Gorgon Joint Venture, which consists of Chevron (50 percent and operator), ExxonMobil (25 percent) and Shell (25 percent).

The gas fields in the Greater Gorgon area hold more than 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and form Australia’s largest known gas resource. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: agreement, ANI, area, aud, Aug, August, august 10, Australia, australia india, australian, Australian High Commission, Chevron, commission, contract, Cubic Feet, deal, Development, energy, export, Export Trade, ExxonMobil, ferguson, form, fruition, Gas, Gas Resource, Gorgon, Gorgon Lng, Gorgon Project, greater, High, hold, India, investment, joint, joint venture, LNG, lng project, Martin Ferguson AM, minister, New Delhi, North-East Asia, operator, partnership, percent, perth, Petronet, Petronet Lng, press, project, purchase, Purchase Agreement, release, resource, she''ll, sign, step, term, tonnes, trade, trading, trillion, venture, welcoming, year

Clearance operation continues at Delhi Metro mishap site

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 14 (ANI): Debris clearance operations continued at the Delhi Metro accident site in South Delhi on Tuesday.

Cranes, which toppled yesterday leaving six injured, have been removed from the site.

Vehicular movement towards Nehru Place area has been badly affected with traffic chaos in many places like Greater Kailash, Amar Colony, Moolchand and East of Kailash.

Commuters in the area had some respite this morning as one-way traffic was opened on the Moolchand-Zamrudpur-Nehru Place route.

Water supply has been affected after the under-construction bridge fell on a pipeline. Power supply has also been temporarily snapped.

The Delhi Government has set up a committee to be headed by A.K.Nagpal of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to investigate Sunday’s mishap in which six persons were killed after an under-construction bridge collapsed. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: A.K.Nagpal, accident, Amar Colony, ANI, area, bridge, chaos, clearance, Clearance Operations, committee, commuters, Cranes, debris, Delhi, delhi government, Delhi Metro, east, Government, greater, IIT, Indian, indian institute of technology, institute, institute of technology, July, July 14, kailash, metro, mishap, Moolchand, morning, movement, nagpal, Nehru Place, New Delhi, operation, pipeline, power, power supply, respite, route, site, south delhi, sunday, supply, Technology, traffic, traffic chaos, Tuesday, vehicular, water, Water Supply, yesterday, Zamrudpur

Tech Mahindra seeks end to eight-year World Bank ban on Satyam Computer Services

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, July 2 (ANI): Tech Mahindra, the new owner of the troubled Indian IT services firm Satyam, has officially written to the World Bank seeking an end to the eight-year ban against Satyam Computer Services for allegedly providing improper benefits to bank staff.

The company has rebranded itself as Mahindra Satyam.

“We wrote to the bank a few weeks ago. We don’t expect an immediate response as these things take time but we disagree with the claims they’ve made,” Australian IT quoted Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar, as saying in Sydney.

Satyam was blacklisted last September and a month later was forced to deny reports that its contractors had installed spy software on World Bank computers.

Tech Mahindra also said that it remains committed to developing a 75 million dollar IT facility in Geelong and will continue to service Telstra despite losing a 30 million dollar-plus contract.

Nayyar reaffirmed the company’s commitment in talks with Victorian Innovation Minister Gavin Jennings this week.

“We’re committed to the project (but) we’ve got due diligence in place. The goal is to complete the project but we need to investigate how much investment is needed,” Nayyar said.

The Geelong project was announced more than a year ago with Satyam as the main financial backer, in partnership with the Victorian government, the City of Greater Geelong and Deakin.

The software hub was to create 2000 jobs, a welcome reprieve for a region afflicted by automotive industry job losses.

Satyam’s local chief, Venki Prathivadi, said Telstra was still a customer despite reports that TELCO had severed all ties.

“We had a five-year contract with Telstra from 2003 and we fully served it. Telstra put out a request for proposals and we made it to the short list,” Prathivadi said.

Satyam still has contracts worth 135 million dollars with Qantas and 12 million dollars with Suncorp. (ANI)

Filed Under: Business News Tagged With: ANI, automotive industry, backer, ban, bank, Bank Ban, Bank Computers, bank staff, Chief, city, City Of Greater Geelong, commitment, company, Computer, contract, customer, deakin, diligence, dollar, Due Diligence, end, executive, facility, Financial Backer, firm, Gavin Jennings, Geelong, Goal, Government, greater, hub, industry, Industry Job, innovation, investment, job, July, last september, list, mahindra, Minister Gavin Jennings, month, Nayyar, owner, partnership, place, Prathivadi, project, qantas, region, Reprieve, request, response, satyam, satyam computer services, September, software, spy, Spy Software, staff, suncorp, sydney, Tech, tech mahindra, TELCO, telstra, Things Take Time, time, Venki, Victorian Government, Vineet, week, Welcome Reprieve, world, year

Tech Mahindra to complete Satyam’s 75-mn dollars Australian project

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melbourne, July 1 (ANI): Tech Mahindra, the new owner of troubled Indian IT services firm Satyam, has for the first time confirmed its continued commitment to a 75 million dollars software development project in Geelong, Australia.

There were grave concerns that the project would be axed after Satyam Computer Services founder and chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, admitted to a one billion dollar accounting fraud in January.

Tech Mahindra executive vice-chairman Vineet Nayyar said construction of the 10ha development on Deakin University grounds would begin as soon as discussions with the Victorian government were complete and the company is determined to complete the project.

However, he warned that certain aspects of the initial agreement, including funding, could change.

“We’re committed to the project … we’ve got due diligence in place,” said Nayyar, who is currently visiting Australia.

“The goal is to complete the project but we need to investigate how much investment is needed,” The Australian quoted him, as saying.

The Geelong project was announced more than a year ago with Satyam as its main financial backer in partnership with the Victorian state government, the City of Greater Geelong and Deakin.

The software hub promises to create 2000 jobs, a much-needed boost for the region in the wake of industry retrenchments. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: accounting, accounting fraud, agreement, ANI, Australia, B. Ramalinga, backer, boost, chairman, city, City Of Greater Geelong, commitment, company, Computer, construction, deakin, Deakin University, Development, diligence, dollar, Due Diligence, executive, executive vice, Financial Backer, firm, founder, fraud, funding, Geelong, Geelong Australia, Goal, Government, Grave Concerns, greater, hub, industry, initial agreement, investment, January, July, mahindra, Melbourne, Nayyar, one billion, owner, partnership, place, project, raju, ramalinga, region, satyam, satyam computer services, software, Software Development Project, state, Tech, tech mahindra, time, University, vice chairman, Victorian Government, Victorian State Government, Vineet, Visiting Australia, wake, year

‘Urban sprawl’ responsible for collapse of ancient Cambodian city of Angkor

June 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, June 24 (ANI): A team of international scientists has suggested that over-development of water infrastructure and extreme climate fluctuations were responsible for the collapse of the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor.

According to a report in The Australian, the team comprised of Sydney University archeologist Roland Fletcher and his GAP (Greater Angkor Project) co-director, Sydney University paleo-climatologist Dan Penny, and paleoclimatologist Brendan Buckley of New York’s Columbia University.

The scientists used new archeological, pollen and tree-ring dating evidence to back their claims.

The group argues that before an alternating series of droughts and monsoonal floods hit Angkor from the mid-14th to late 15th centuries, the capital of the Khmer empire had already had extensive problems with its vast, complicated water system.

Ultimately, it became impossible for the city to keep pace with further pressures from extreme weather.

“Although there was ongoing conflict with neighbouring states, it was this over-built, inflexible (water) infrastructure that locked them into this trajectory of decline,” Dr Penny said.

Before Angkor vanished into the jungle in the 17th century, it was the world’s largest low-density pre-industrial city.

Between the ninth and 13th centuries, the metropolis spread across 1000sq km and was home to as many as 750,000 people.

To feed the population, land was extensively cleared for rice farming and hundreds of kilometres of canals and enormous reservoirs were built to provide water for farming and drinking.

The water works also supported religious ceremonies at hundreds of temple complexes.

The most spectacular was Angkor Wat, the world’s largest premodern religious monument. “It was the size of a medieval European town,” Professor Fletcher said.

As the city grew, so did the highly integrated system of canals, spillways and reservoirs needed to support it.

Sand had begun filling major canals from the 14th century. Spillways and other features of the waterworks were badly damaged and shut down.

By the late 16th century, Angkor was largely abandoned, taking with it the entire region.

According to Professor Fletcher, Angkor is not the only city that fell victim to unsustainable low-density urban sprawl followed by climate instability.

“The famous example is the classic Maya cities of the Yucatan Pensinsula like Tikal in Guatemala. They died between the ninth and the 11th century,” he said. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Alternating Series, Angkor, Angkor Wat, ANI, archeologist, Brendan Buckley, capital, century, city, climate, Climate Fluctuations, collapse, Columbia, columbia university, conflict, Dan Penny, decline, Dr Penny, drinking, empire, evidence, example, Extreme Climate, extreme weather, farming, gap, greater, group, guatemala, home, Infrastructure, instability, international scientists, June, jungle, Khmer, Khmer Empire, land, low-density, maya, medieval, mid, monsoonal, monument, neighbouring states, New York, pace, paleoclimatologist, Pensinsula, pollen, population, premodern, Professor Fletcher, project, region, Religious Monument, report, Rice, Rice Farming, Roland Fletcher, sand, series, size, Spillways, sprawl, sydney, sydney university, system, team, Temple, Temple Complexes, Tikal, town, trajectory, University, urban, victim, Wat, water, Water Infrastructure, Waterworks, weather, world, Yucatan

Land management practices in agricultural watersheds can affect carbon losses

June 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 20 (ANI): In a new study, scientists have determined that specific land management practices in agricultural watersheds, such as manure application, can affect carbon losses.

Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) losses from tile drains are an underquantified portion of the terrestrial carbon cycle.

This is particularly important in the eastern corn belt where tile drainage dominates the agricultural landscape.

Specific land management practices, such as manure application, can play a large role in the export of DOC as soluble organic carbon is applied to or injected into the soil surface.

As animal agriculture intensifies in the upper Midwest, measuring DOC exported through tile drains is important when evaluating carbon budgets and carbon sequestration potential.

Scientists at Purdue University have investigated the impacts of manure application, crop rotation, and nitrogen application rate on DOC losses from tile drains.

Research was conducted over a six-year span (1998-2004) at Purdue University’s Water Quality Field Station, which was designed specifically to measure drainflow and solute losses from agricultural practices.

Forty-eight drainage lysimeters were established at the field site in 1992.

Twelve field treatments included a restored prairie grass, continuous corn rotations and corn-soybean rotations fertilized at three nitrogen rates, and continuous corn rotations fertilized with lagooned swine effluent applied in the spring or fall of each year.

The study determined that annual losses of DOC were not affected by any crop management practice.

However, when drainage-inducing rainfall occurred with one month of manure application, the monthly DOC concentration of the manured plot was greater than that of non-manured plots.

Overall, drainage hydrology was determined to be the largest sole driver of DOC loss.

Greater daily drainflows were associated with higher DOC concentrations compared to lower daily drainflows.

This indicates that larger storms effectively “flush” DOC from the soil systems.

According to Dr. Matt Ruark, now an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Understanding the concentrations and amounts of DOC contributed to surface waters from tile drains is essential for evaluating the overall aquatic ecology of a watershed.

“This is of particular importance in the eastern corn belt, where up to 80 percent of the land in agricultural watersheds are tile drained,” he added.

Further research is required to evaluate the fate of tile drainage-exported DOC once it enters the surface water system.

The effect of manure management on the availability of DOC leached into subsurface soil is currently being investigated. (ANI)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Agricultural Landscape, Agricultural Watersheds, Agriculture, ANI, animal, Animal Agriculture, application, Application Rate, assistant, availability, belt, carbon, carbon sequestration, concentration, Continuous Corn, corn, crop, Crop Management, cycle, dissolved, doc, Dr. Matt Ruark, drainage, drainflow, driver, Eastern Corn Belt, ecology, effect, export, fall, fate, field, Field Station, Forty-eight, grass, greater, hydrology, importance, June, land, Land Management Practices, landscape, loss, madison, management, manure, Manure Application, Midwest, month, nitrogen, Nitrogen Application, percent, plot, portion, practice, Prairie, Prairie Grass, professor, Purdue, purdue university, quality, Quality Field, rainfall, rate, Research, role, rotation, sequestration, site, soil, Soil Surface, solute, span, spring, study, subsurface, surface, system, Terrestrial Carbon Cycle, tile, Tile Drainage, Tile Drains, understanding, University, Upper Midwest, Washington, water, Water Quality Field Station, watershed, Wisconsin, year

Municipal authorities gears up to tackle monsoon rains in Mumbai

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Mumbai, May 14 (ANI): Municipal authorities have undertaken cleaning up of clogged drains and manholes in Mumbai to avoid the problem of water logging during the ensuing monsoon season in the city.

The Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation (GMMC) has undertaken the project in view of the chaos that prevails during the monsoon season due to clogged drains and manholes, plunging the city in a deluge.

With the monsoons predicted to be hitting early this year, the contractors involved in the cleaning process have been instructed to take up the cleaning of clogged drains urgently.

“Monsoon will be coming very early this year. So, they should do all major and minor drain cleaning very perfectly. All the contractors should be doing this drain cleaning very urgently and very perfectly,” said Subha Raul, Mayor, Mumbai.

More than 1,000 people were killed across Maharashtra in 2005 during floods that hit the metropolis. The civic authorities are now bracing themselves up for the June-September rains.

Two days of heavy rain in July 2005, showed up the pathetic infrastructure and dismal emergency response in Mumbai. By Sushil Parekh (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, chaos, city, civic authorities, cleaning, Clogged Drains, corporation, deluge, drain, emergency, emergency response, floods, gears, GMMC, greater, heavy rain, Infrastructure, July, June, Maharashtra, Manholes, May, mayor, metropolis, Monsoon, Monsoon Rains, monsoon season, monsoons, Mumbai, Mumbai Municipal Corporation, municipal, Municipal Authorities, parekh, problem, process, project, rain, Rain In July, raul, response, season, September, Subha, sushil, view, water, water logging, year

Canadian Tamils plan massive protest against Sri Lanka

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Toronto, May. 4 (ANI): Demanding that Canada, US and the UN to intervene to end the Sri Lankan crisis, tens of thousands of Tamil Canadians will form a human chain on Tuesday in downtown Toronto to protest against the Lankan Army’s offensive against the LTTE.

“The chain will form at noon at Union Station and, depending on how many people there are, occupy sidewalks north along Yonge St., west along Bloor St. to Avenue Rd., then south along Queen’s Park and University Ave. and Front St. back to Union,” said Aranee Muru, spokesperson of Coalition to Stop the War in Sri Lanka.

Muru said no streets would be blocked, as happened last week when a protest outside the American consulate forced police to block off University Ave. and neighboring streets for several days.

“We will stay on the sidewalk. We are out there to create more awareness. We don’t want to be disruptive,” The Star quoted her, as saying.

The organizers are not sure about when the protest, will end.

“It’s really up to the people…how long they want to stay,” she said.

They said they are expecting large numbers to attend the event. According to some estimates, over 200,000 people of Tamil origin live in the Greater Toronto Area.

Toronto police say they’re still planning their response. Senior officers will speak with protest organizers and then formulate a plan.

Organizers planning Tuesday’s demonstration have asked participants to come downtown by subway and get out at any stop.

Tamil organizers say they are protesting to draw attention to a “massive buildup of Sri Lankan armed forces” in the northern battle zone.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting a 25-year war with the Sri Lankan Government for a separate ethnic Tamil homeland. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, Aranee, area, army, attention, ave, avenue, awareness, battle, battle zone, Bloor, Bloor St, buildup, Canada, Canadian, chain, coalition, consulate, crisis, demanding, demonstration, downtown, Eelam, event, front, Government, greater, Greater Toronto Area, homeland, lankan, lankan army, large numbers, liberation, liberation tigers of tamil eelam, ltte, Massive Buildup, massive protest, May, Muru, noon, organizers, origin, park, plan, planning, police, protest, Protest Organizers, queen, response, s park, sidewalk, Sidewalks, spokesperson, Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Crisis, sri lankan government, star, station, stop, Subway, tamil, Tamil Canadians, Tamil Homeland, Tamils, tigers, toronto, Toronto Police, Tuesday, union, Union Station, University, US, war, war in sri lanka, week, west, year, Yonge, Yonge St, zone

Congress finalises 42 names for Lok Sabha polls

March 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, Mar 17 (ANI): The Congress Central Election Committee has finalised the names of candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh, which include Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, who will contest from the Kadapa constituency.

Jaganmohan’s uncle and Y. S. R. Reddy’s younger brother Y. S. Vivekananda Reddy currently represent the Kadapa constituency.

A formal announcement of the candidates is likely in two days.

The Congress has decided to retain a majority of the sitting MPs and rejected Rajya Sabha members T. Subbirami Reddy and V. Hanumantha Rao’s demand for Lok Sabha tickets.

All India Congress Committee Secretary Madhu Yaskhi Goud will again contest from the Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat.

The party has also decided to field sitting MPs from newly-created constituencies.

Senior party leader S. Jaipal Reddy will contest from the Chevella constituency in Greater Hyderabad.

Daggubati Purandeswari, the daughter of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) founder N.T. Rama Rao, will try her luck from the Visakhapatnam constituency.

Sources said Union Ministers Renuka Chowdhary and M. M. Pallam Raju have been re-nominated from Khammam and Kakinada respectively.

L. Rajagopal will contest from the Vijayawada seat, while Anjan Kumar Yadav has been nominated from Secunderabad constituency.

Congress had won 29 seats in 2004 elections. he party will announce candidates for Assembly Elections after March 23. The state is going for simultaneous polls to the State Assembly and the Lok Sabha April 16 and 23. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: andhra, ANI, Anjan, announcement, April, assembly, assembly elections, brother, central, central election, Chevella, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara, Chowdhary, committee, Committee Secretary, Congress, constituency, Daggubati, daughter, demand, desam, Election, formal announcement, founder, Goud, greater, Hanumantha, Hyderabad, India, india congress committee, jaipal reddy, Kadapa, Kakinada, Khammam, Kumar Yadav, L. Rajagopal, leader, lok, lok sabha polls, lok sabha seats, luck, M. M. Pallam, madhu, majority, mar, March, ministers, mps, N.T. Rama, Nizamabad, pallam raju, party, pradesh, Purandeswari, Rajagopal, raju, Rajya Sabha, Rama Rao, rao, reddy, renuka, S. Jaipal, seat, secretary, secunderabad, Senior, Simultaneous Polls, son, state, T. Subbirami, tdp, telugu, uncle, union, Union Ministers, vijayawada, visakhapatnam, Vivekananda, Y. S. Jaganmohan, Y. S. R. Reddy, Y. S. Vivekananda, Yaskhi

Indian Handicrafts and Gifts fair in Noida

February 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Noida, Feb 25 (ANI): Union Minister of State for Textiles E.V.K.S. Elangovan today inaugurated Indian Handicrafts and Gifts Fair, Spring 2009, in Greater Noida today.

The four-day fair is being organized by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts.

Addressing on the occasion, Elangovan said “We need to develop new, innovative items to compete in the International Market besides upgrading design and technology to boost handicraft exports.”

” The Indian handicrafts are worst affected in the world market and the exports, which was rising every year, declined by more than 40 per cent in 2008-09. He said that the Government has announced an economic stimulus for the handicrafts sector so that livelihood of millions of artisans can be maintained,” he added.

Buyers from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay will be attending the fair. IHGF will further generate new ideas, techniques and upgradation of existing technologies through a series of seminars where experts in the field of handicrafts, textiles, finance and trade shall participate and exchange their views through topics of interest to the exporting and buying community.

The fair is also now recognized as “One stop most authentic sourcing event for all crafts from India” by overseas buying community. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: ANI, Argentina, Brazil, buying, cent, Chile, colombia, community, Council, design, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, event, export, fair, Feb, field, finance, Gifts, Government, greater, handicraft, handicrafts, IHGF, India, Indian, interest, international, livelihood, market, minister, noida, occasion, promotion, sector, series, state, stimulus, Technology, Textiles, today, trade, union, upgradation, Uruguay, world, year

ISI could infiltrate through Sri Lanka: Chidambaram

February 25, 2009 By Dinesh Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) The government is alive to the threat of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) attempting to infiltrate its operatives into south India via Sri Lanka and has taken steps to counter this, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday.

‘There is no specific report of an infiltration attempt via Sri Lanka but we cannot rule this out,’ Chidambaram said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha. ‘We are aware that the ISI has a rather long arm and can reach out to other countries in south Asia.’

In this context, he noted that all applications made in Sri Lanka for an Indian visa were being put through ‘greater scrutiny’.

This apart, coastal vigilance had been ‘significantly strengthened’ in Tamil Nadu and Kerala post the Mumbai terror attacks, Chidambaram said.

He was responding to a supplementary from D. Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whether the government was aware that with the growing cooperation between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, ‘the ISI could become active and target the southern coast’.
Indo Asian News Service

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: active, alive, apart, applications, arm, asia, attacks, attempt, aware, Chidambaram, coastal, communist, counter, countries, cpi, Feb, Government, greater, growing, home, hour, India, Indian, infiltrate, intelligence, inter-services, isi, lanka, minister, nadu, Operatives, Pakistan, party, post, responding, rule, sabha, scrutiny, south, southern, specific, sri, steps, taken, target, terror, the, threat, via, visa

Moily confirms Azharuddin’s induction into Congress

February 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Feb 19 (ANI): Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to join the Congress Party.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Veerrappa Moily, in an interview to Times Now declared on Thursday that Azharuddin would be given primary membership in the party.

However, they are still to decide the constituency from where he will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Justifying his induction in the Congress despite his involvement in the match-fixing case, Moily said, “There is no criminal case against Azhar. If there is a case at all, then it is only between the BCCI and him, which has been filed by Azhar himself against the ban.”

“Remember, he served Indian cricket for nine years as a captain with outstanding performance. He has filed a case against the ban imposed by the BCCI and that is not a criminal matter,” he added.

Moily’s declaration came after Azharuddin had a late evening meeting with some of the senior party leaders on February 18.

There were speculations about the former cricketer joining politics since January 20, when he expressed his interest to contest elections ‘from a prestigious seat’.

He had verbalised his interest in front of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, according to sources.

There were rumours last February, when Azharuddin had lunch with Telangana Rastra Samiti President K Chandrasekhar Rao, that he may campaign or contest elections for the Telangana Rastra Samiti in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls.

However, he had dismissed the speculation saying that he was only interested in working for cricket.

Later on January 22, Azharuddin’s plans became all the more apparent when he had a long meeting with Moily, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and PCC president D Srinivas in Hyderabad.

The former right-handed batsman also runs an event management company and a health club in the up market Banjara Hills area of Hyderabad.

Azhar scored a total of 22 centuries in Test cricket at an average of 45, and 7 in ODI’s at an average of 37. He scored a century in each of his first three Tests which is a record.

He won 103 ODI matches as the captain of the Indian team, which is still an Indian record. An excellent fielder, he took a world record 156 catches in ODI cricket.

In 1991 he was named ‘Wisden Cricketer of the Year’.

However, towards the end of his career, Azharuddin was accused of match fixing and banned from playing by the BCCI. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: aicc, ANI, area, average, azhar, ban, Banjara Hills, batsman, BCCI, captain Mohammad Azharuddin, career, case, century, chandrasekhar, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar, club, committee, company, Congress, constituency, contest, corporation, Cricket, cricketer, D Srinivas, declaration, end, evening, event, Feb, February, Fielder, former, front, general, greater, Health, Hyderabad, India, induction, interest, Interview, involvement, January, Justifying, lok, lunch, management, market, match, matter, meeting, membership, Moily, municipal, New Delhi, odi, party, pcc, performance, president, President Sonia Gandhi, rao, rastra, record, reddy, sabha, Samiti, seat, Secretary Veerrappa, speculation, team, Telangana, test, tests, Thursday, times, total, Wisden, world, year