Sachin Tendulkar, Rekha to seat in Parliament

After the Indian government recommended Sachin Tendulkar to be nominated as a member of the Upper House in the Parliament report suggests that the cricketer has accepted it.

Sachin Tendulkar along with yesteryear Bollywood actress Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga will now become a Parliamentarian.

The nomination of all three eminent personalities was tonight approved by President Pratibha Patil.

Tendulkar would be the first active sportsman and a cricketer to be nominated in the Upper House commonly known as the Rajya Sabha. Sachin and his wife Anjali also paid a courtesy visit to Congress President Sonia Gandhi at her 10 Janpath Residence in New Delhi.

57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines of the 80s in Hindi films and had won several national awards in her acting career.

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.

In the past, eminent personalities like directors Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen, thespian Dilip Kumar and playback singer Lata Mangeshkar have been the nominated to the Rajya Sabha and so have noted script writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar and earlier his actress wife Shabana Azmi.

Interestingly, only two days back actress Jaya Bachchan was again sworn in as the Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party and now Rekha, once romantically linked with Jaya’s husband Amitabh Bachchan, might share the same bench with her.

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