'Reconsider ban on Shah Rukh Khan'

Support has been garnering for Kolkata Knight Riders owner and Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan after he was banned from entering the Wankhede stadium last year. In an appeal to the Mumbai Cricket Associaton (MCA),A Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) asked them to reconsider its ban on actor-producer Shahrukh from entering Wankhede stadium. In an email sent today to MCA president Ravi Savant, MPCC spokesman Sachin Sawant said Shahrukh Khan publicly apologised for his misconduct at the stadium after a match inA the last season of IPL. "After the apology, we feel that it would be in the interest of sports if your esteemed organisation shows true sportsman spirit and allows entry to Khan. It is not the question of Shahrukh Khan as an actor, but of any citizen - a ban is not a democratic punishment especially when the person has apologised," Sawant said. "I request you to kindly reconsider the punishment given to him and allow him entry for today's match," the MPCC spokesman wrote. Tonight's match will be the first KKR match in Mumbai after last year's incident, in which the actor behaved in an allegedly abusive manner with a security guard and MCA officials. "Action (to ban Shah Rukh Khan) was taken by late Vilasrao Deshmukh (in his capacity as president of MCA), who is no longer with us and was himself a Congressman. When the concerned person (Shah Rukh) himself has not bothered to apologise to MCA, I fail to understand why the Congress is concerned about this matter," Ravi Savant told PTI when asked for his reaction.