Muralitharan rejects request to become governor, contest elections

COLOMBO (News1st): Former national cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has said he has turned down requests to assume office as a provincial governor and to contest the parliamentary election. The spin wizard, on Thursday, said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had offered him the post of governor for the northern province, after his election to power in November last year. "I told him, politics does not suit me, as I am a sportsman. I only like to help people," Muralitharan said. He added that the President had requested him to contest the parliamentary election from the Northern Province, another request he had turned down. "He seemed disappointed but then he said you helped me win, but if a solid set of people do not work with me we cannot revive this nation," the former national cricketer added. Muralitharan pointed out that it was then that he had proposed to nominate his brother to run the election.