File image of Bhaichung Bhutia© ANI
PT Usha, the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), has recently levelled accusations against All India Football Federation president (AIFF) Kalyan Chaubey for "impersonating as the acting CEO of the IOA" and for issuing an "unauthorised agenda" for Special General Meeting (SGM). In an exclusive telephonic conversation with IANS, former India forward, Bhaichung Bhutia claimed that the credibility of the AIFF has taken a huge hit during Chaubey's tenure and he "feels sorry" for the IOA and its president.
"I feel sorry for PT Usha ma'am and the IOA. We have all seen what Kalyan Chaubey has done to the football federation. The credibility of the federation has taken a huge hit during his tenure. We have never had our lawyers and general secretary accuse the president of corruption. He has made many decisions, like pulling out as Asia Cup hosts and awarding it to Saudi Arabia, taking the Santosh Trophy to Saudi Arabia as well. He then makes statements like the North Eastern players are too short and we're looking at tall players from Rajasthan.
"These are all very dumb statements that he's making. He's already ruined the Football Federation, and now he's trying to damage the Indian Olympic Association as well. We've never had such negative publicity before that has happened under Kalyan. I saw that he is also involved with the IOA, acting as the CEO of the IOA, which is very unfortunate," Bhaichung told IANS.
According to the IOA president's allegations, Kalyan issued a circular on official IOA letterhead, listing 26 agenda items for the SGM to be held on October 25. One of the items was a vote of no confidence against Usha and signed it as IOA's joint secretary and acting CEO. Usha went on to declare that Chaubey does not hold the acting CEO's post.
Bhaichung, a pillar of Indian football who donned the national team jersey for 16 years, went on to add that with many allegations of corruption shadowing his reign as the president of the federation, Chaubey "should step down" from his post and call for elections.
"You have a lawyer (Nilanjan Bhattacharjee) of the federation accusing him of corruption; you have the former general secretary (Shaji Prabhakaran), who was appointed by you and then removed within a couple of months, putting serious accusations on the president. When you have those kinds of allegations, it's time to step down, accept the new constitutions, and call the elections,” added the former striker.
AIFF's former principal legal advisor Nilanjan Bhattacharjee previously made serious "corruption allegations" against AIFF chief. In a letter adressed to PM Narendra Modi, he raised his concerns, which said Chaubey worked out "corruption avenues" through the non-transparent tender process and preferential allotment of tender and made attempts to "syphon off money from the federation's exchequer" and used the AIFF fund for personal expenses. The legal head's contract was later terminated by Chaubey.
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