Sachin Tendulkar pressured to accept RS nomination: Ramdev

New Delhi: Yoga guru Ramdev on Saturday sought to find fault with the Rajya Sabha nomination to Sachin Tendulkar alleging that the "sinking" Congress might have pressured him to accepting the honour to enhance its prestige.

Tendulkar's nomination has provided people with an opportunity to ask the cricketer whether he will remain silent or will he speak up on issues like corruption and bringing back blackmoney stashed in tax havens, Ramdev told reporters.

"He has every right to take whatever decision he wants to take. He has hit many centuries, he has hit many sixes. But now it gives us an opportunity to knock his doors asking him whether he will remain silent or will he speak up," he said.

The yoga guru said that the \"sinking\" Congress might have pressured him to accepting the honour to enhance its prestige.

He said Congress has decided to nominate Tendulkar to the Upper House of Parliament to "salvage the sinking ship".

"These nominations (that of Tendulkar and actress Rekha) are to divert attention from the real issues. Nobody will oppose honouring Sachin. People of the country have no objection about honouring him with Bharat Ratna.

"But Congress is thinking how to tag Sachin with them. So there is a politics in not giving Bharat Ratna to him. There is also politics in giving him Rajya Sabha nomination," Ramdev said.

Asked whether he thought Tendulkar was pressured by the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and Congress into accepting the nomination, Ramdev said he had heard this from many quarters.

"It does not appear it (pressuring Sachin to accept nomination) is baseless. Sachin is a responsible citizen. He knows what is happening. He is not a child...It is for him to decide what to do after he retires from cricket.

"We have no problem with that. But we expect that he applies his mind whether his cricket career is important or political career is important," Ramdev said.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)