Sachin Tendulkar meets Sonia Gandhi, recommended for Rajya Sabha seat

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NEW DELHI: Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and actress of yesteryear Rekha are among four eminent persons who have been recommended for nomination as members of Rajya Sabha. 39-year-old Tendulkar, who has brought many a laurel to the country through his exploits in the game,
and Rekha, known for her brilliant and emotional portrayals in Hindi cinema in the 80s, will become members of Parliament under a provision of the constitution that allows the President to nominate 12 members to the Upper House.

There is no word from the Government on who the other two are who have been nominated. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent a communication to the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday which has been sent to President Pratibha Patil for notification, sources said.

Article 80 of the Constitution provides for nomination of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in matters such as literature, science, art and social service. 57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines of the 80s in Hindi films and and had won several national awards in her acting career.

Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha has come as a surprise against the backdrop of a long-standing demand for conferring of Bharat Ratna on him for his contribution to the game. He completed the historic achievement of scoring 100 international centuries in March this year.

Tendulkar is the first sports personality to be nominated Tendulkar is the first sports personality to be nominated to Rajya Sabha while there have been several film personalities who have been nominated in the past. Film personalities who were nominated in the past include Hema Malini, Vyjayantimala, Nargis Dutt, Lata Mangeshkar and Sivaji Ganesan. Under the anti-defection law, a nominated member has the option to give a declaration within six months if he wants to associate himself with a political party in the House.

Sachin meets Sonia

Sachin Tendulkar along with his wife Anjali today paid a courtesy visit to Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence. Sonia wanted to meet the batting great and personally congratulate him on achieving the historic feat of scoring 100 international centuries recently.

Senior BCCI functionary and IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla was also present at Sonia Gandhi's residence. According to sources, Tendulkar and his wife spent close to half an hour with Sonia.

The Congress president is learnt to have talked in general about cricket and wished the player luck for his future. Tendulkar, who turned 39 on Tuesday, had to wait for more than one year to move from 99 hundreds to the landmark 100th century before finally achieving it in an Asia Cup match against Bangladesh on March 16.