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Bhubaneswar: With anger brewing across Odisha against participation of Pakistani players in the Women Cricket World Cup matches in Cuttack, BJP leader K V Singhdeo on Tuesday resigned from the Organising Committee of the event.
Interestingly, BJP senior leader Arun Jaitley has skipped his visit to the state.
Singhdeo was yesterday named by the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) as one of the seven members of the Organising Committee formed for successful conduct of the matches at Cuttack. He was taken as a member of the OC in the capacity of the president of Odisha Basketball Association.
"I have already requested OCA secretary to delete my name from the organising committee. I was not earlier informed about my membership in the OC," Singhdeo told reporters.
Supporting the Sangh Parivar decision to oppose Pakistani players participation in view of beheading of Indian jawans across LOC, Singhdeo, also leader of the BJP egislature Party in the assembly said, "For me country is first, then comes sports."
However, another senior BJP leader and former minister in the Naveen Patnaik Cabinet, Samir Dey did not comment on the issue. "I will not speak in this regard today," Dey said.
Dey has been taken as a member of the Organising Committee in his capacity as president of Odisha Olympic Association.
Meanwhile, senior leader BJP and MP Arun Jaitley cancelled his visit to Cuttack city tomorrow, Dey said.
Jaitely was scheduled to attend a function at Cuttack on occasion of Netaji Birth anniversary.
"It is good that Jaitley is avoiding visit to Cuttack now as the Sangh Parivar has been staging protest rallies opposing participation of Pakistani players in the World Cup," said a senior BJP leader requesting not to be named.
Jaitely was one of the vice-presidents of the BCCI's Working Committee which has decided to allow Pakistani players to take part in the tournament.
