Mohammed Azharuddin the stylish and wristy cricketer is remembered for two things.

1) His contribution as a cricketer which started off famously with him scoring three centuries on the trot on debut.

2) His role in the match fixing episode which is best forgotten.

Azhar was lured by the “secularist” Congress with the promise of fielding him in AP. Poor Azhar may have faced many a bouncer in his cricketing carreer, but was not exposed to the theesra (with Congress it cant be doosra, it has to be something more) from the Congress. He was first denied a ticket in AP, which is where he should have been fielded from, since he hails from there.

They then went to Rajasthan with poor Azhar in tow only to be told that he cant stand there becuase he is an outsider. This was the “doosra”. Congress now had to live up to its “secular” credentials by fielding him from some where. So, they have made a sacrificial goat of our dear Azhar by fielding him in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh.

In UP the Congress simply does not exist except in half a dozen constituencies. Even that number is likely to dwindle this time around. It is pertinent to note that Congress did not even contest from Moradabad in 2004, for reasons which are very obvious. Since, every one knows Congress strength in UP, nobody is opposing his candidature. We dont even have to wait for election results to know that Azhar has been bowled by the “theesra”.

Unfortunately for Azhar, he is not used to the machinations of politics in general and the Congress politics in particular. Lets hope that he will not be the only one to learn his lessons from this episode.

- By Uma Vijaykumar