A day after the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) named its former chiefs Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Chautala as honorary life presidents, the backlash against their appointments continued, from both the media and the government.
While the Sports Ministry issued a show cause notice to the IOA and threatened to sever all ties with it unless the decision was revoked, Mr. Kalmadi himself backed out of the appointment till his name was cleared of all charges. Mr. Kalmadi, who was the IOA president for 15 years from 1996 to 2011, is one of the main accused in the 2010 Commonwealth Games corruption scam.
“This is against the constitution of the IOA and is not acceptable to the Sports Ministry. We want transparency in sports. Till the time these two don’t resign or are sacked, we will not deal with the IOA,” Sports Minister Vijay Goel said.
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“We believe in the autonomy of the federations in their working and respect the Olympic Charter. At the same time, good governance, transparency and accountability are important to run sports smoothly in the country. I am disappointed because both [appointees] are facing cases of corruption,” Mr. Goel added.
Mr. Kalmadi, who was not present at the IOA’s Annual General Meeting in Chennai on Tuesday, wrote to IOA president N. Ramachandran about his unwillingness to accept the post. “I thank the Indian Olympic Association for conferring the honour of Life President on me. However, I do not feel that it would be appropriate for me to accept it at this time. I am confident that my name will be cleared and I will defer the acceptance of the honour till such time,” he wrote.
Mr. Chautala, who had been defiant initially, reportedly agreed to back off later in the day, but there was no official confirmation of this.
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Mr. Chautala served as IOA president from December 2012 to February 2014, before his election was annulled and the IOA was suspended by its parent world body for fielding charge-sheeted candidates.