Anurag Thakur hits out at HP CM for shifting venue of Indo-Pak

Peeved over shifting of venue of India-Pakistan T-20 World Cup tie from Dharamsala to Kolkata, BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur today accused Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh of playing politics in the name of martyrs and harming the interests of the state.
He said that Himachal Pradesh would have got global publicity to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore from the match which would have helped in giving a boost to tourism.
"The way Congress politicised it, they harmed sports and specially Himachal Pradesh. The Chief Minister of HP provided Pakistan an opportunity to raise fingers and question security arrangement in our country. It has harmed HP's image," he said.

The "changing" stand of the chief minister on giving assurance about the security arrangement for Pakistan team has created an impression that India was not "capable of providing security" to the visiting team and "tarnished the image" of the state and the country, he alleged.
It was surprising that the chief minister, who was the chief guest at IPL matches played at Dharamsala in 2005, has taken a divergent stand this time, Thakur said.
"The chief minister should explain the reasons for changing stance within 48 hours or else the HPCA would expose him," he said.
Thakur said that the adverse fall-out of shifting the match venue was inevitable and Himachal would not get any IPL match.