Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday unearthed a Virat Kohli interview to indicate that corruption reigned in Delhi’s cricket body during Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s 13-year tenure as its chief.
The party said Kohli’s father, Prem Kohli, was asked for a “favour” in return for his selection in the Delhi under-14 squad. AAP spokesperson said the incident happened between 2001 and 2003 when Jaitley headed the Delhi and District Cricket Association or DDCA.
“In the press conference yesterday DDCA's acting president Chetan Chauhan said the DDCA has given cricketers like the Indian captain Virat Kohli. They also claim that Virat Kohli has come out in praise of Arun Jaitley,” the AAP leader said at a press conference here.
Kohli was denied a berth in the junior squad after his father turned down the offer made by a DDCA official, according to the December 18 interview to the Hindu.
Incidentally, many Indian cricketers, including Kohli, had come out in support of the former DDCA chief. AAP has been alleging that Jaitley presided over the alleged irregularities in the DDCA when he was at the helm of its affairs till 2013.
Delhi’s ruling party called Kohli a “whistleblower” while aiming questions at the Union Finance Minister.
“Mr Jaitley, will you please tell the nation how many talented players like Kohli were denied a chance to play for Delhi, because their parents could not meet the demands made by DDCA office bearers under you?” said the party in a statement.
Continuing its drive, the party released a 10-page report prepared by Chauhan in August 2010, which AAP claimed puts DDCA official Sunil Dev in the dock for Syndicate Bank Cricket Club bungling case.
“In the words of Chauhan, Sunil Dev, the then Sports Secretary of the DDCA, worked unilaterally and arbitrarily and took decisions which were detrimental to the interest of the DDCA. The Sports Working Committee committed an act of irregularity and impropriety by taking on its own a decision to convert Syndicate for approval before changing the name of the club,” the AAP said.
Earlier on Wednesday, the party had released purported letters, showing Jaitley wanted top Delhi Police officials to wind up a probe involving the DDCA and the bank’s cricket club.
