The newly nominated secretary of the All India Chess Federation (AICF), Vijay Deshpande, has refuted the charges made by predecessor Bharat Singh Chauhan and has also questioned his actions.
On Tuesday, AICF president P.R. Venketrama Raja had removed Chauhan from the post of secretary. Soon after, Chauhan shot off a letter to all the ‘stakeholders’, mentioning that he continued to be the secretary.
Reacting to Chauhan’s allegation that Raja’s action was a “malicious attempt to cover his tracks”, Deshpande said, “Chauhan should read the court order carefully and then challenge it. Raja has no need to cover up for anybody. Having made a huge contribution to chess, Raja is also known as the first sponsor of Viswanathan Anand. He does not require any certification from Chauhan.”
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Irrelevant, meaningless
Despande described Chauhan’s charge that Raja removed him to save the All Marathi Chess Association (AMCA) as “irrelevant and meaningless.”
Chauhan had pointed out AMCA’s delay in submitting the accounts to the State authorities after availing a grant of ₹2 crore for holding the World Youth Chess Championship (WYCC) in Mumbai last October, and that Raja was trying to save it.
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“What has AICF or its president got to do with this? The Maharashtra government has asked for the expenditure statement of the WYCC. The statement is now with the special auditors nominated for the purpose. As soon as the AMCA gets the certified audit report, it will be submitted. What is there to save AMCA?” wondered Deshpande.