India’s prime minister has put forward batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar for membership of the upper house of parliament, reports said on Thursday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has written a letter to the president recommending the cricketer be nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the NDTV news channel quoted sources as saying. Tendulkar, who turned 39 this week, was in New Delhi to play an Indian Premier League match for the Mumbai Indians against the Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Friday. Earlier on Thursday, Tendulkar and his wife had called on ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi at her residence — a meeting described as a “courtesy visit” by the local media. The vast majority of the 250 seats in the upper house of India’s parliament are filled by members elected by the legislatures in their home states. But 12 seats lie in the favour of the president and are normally awarded to people who have excelled in such fields as the arts, science and sport.
