'Solving people's problems needs different ball game'

Gautam Gambhir might have ducked a few menacing bouncers on the cricket pitch but when it comes to politics, he is playing with a straight bat.

Gambhir, a BJP candidate in East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, believes sitting in air-conditioned rooms and tweeting on issues is easy but solving people's problems needs a different ball game.

"I joined politics to find solutions to problems faced by people," Gambhir, the richest candidate in the national capital, told reporters.

Interaction with the 37-year-old cricketer, who never left any bowler without tasting the power of his bat, shows that he is a quick learner in politics and has the right repartee for every question.

He wants Delhi to remain Delhi and not Paris or London. His target is clear though he does not name anyone. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal often compares Delhi with international cities while articulating his demand for full statehood for the capital.

"Dilli Ko Dilli banane ki jaroorat hain, London ya Paris nahi (Delhi needs to be developed as a national capital city and not London or Paris)," Gambhir says.

For him, cricket or any game has to be played in "true spirit" and he entered the new world of politics with the same intention.

"Tweeting from AC rooms on any issue is very easy. I have joined politics to find solutions to the problems faced by the people. I have played cricket with true spirit and have now joined politics with the same intention," Gambhir asserts.

'No false promises'

"I am not here to make false promises. What people say after five years will be my view," he adds.

While AAP has gone full throttle on the issue of full statehood, like a typical politician, Gambhir launches into attack mode, "They raise the issue during elections to cover up failures."

Soon came doubts about whether he was just a celebrity candidate and was asked how many Assembly constituencies and municipal wards are there in East Delhi. The answer was a clinical straight drive, "10 Assembly constituencies and 39 wards."

He has a take on Congress opponent Arvinder Singh Lovely, who said the BJP candidate was on a picnic to East Delhi. Gambhir came down the pitch to hit it out of the park: "Lovely (who was briefly with BJP in 2017) should tell if he was on a picnic in the BJP."