NEW DELHI: Three years after its suspension was revoked, the Indian Olympic Association is reportedly facing the prospect of a split ahead of the IOA’s elections due next month.
This follows a power struggle that is currently on between incumbent president N Ramchandran and general secretary Rajiv Mehta, acting as a proxy for International Hockey Federation Narinder Batra, who is contending for the IOA top post.
At present, the Mehta faction appears to be strong on paper, according to DNA. Various sports federations have also taken sides in this game of power in IOA.
Speaking of federations, Ramchandran and Mehta have separately called meetings of the IOA executive council, harking back to similar fracases witnessed in the last few years with basketball and volleyball.
While Ramchandran has called for an executive council meeting in Chennai on November 9, the Mehta faction has called for an emergency meeting of the EC in Delhi on November 7, DNA reports.
The Mehta faction, which claims that its meeting was called on a petition from nine associations, has also opposed holding the AGM in Chennai.
At the root of it all is Ramchandran’s attempts to change the IOA constitution regarding eligibility for contesting election, the daily reports. The rule currently is that only an executive council member can contest the election but Ramchandran is proposing a change that the candidate must have been an executive member four times and must have attended AGM four times.
The Mehta faction is against this change as it would make Batra ineligible to contest. As a counter, Hockey India has given notice for the expulsion of IOA President. A similar notice has been given by Taekwondo federation.
