JOIN US The crusade to remove N Ramachandran as Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president grew uglier on Saturday with Hockey India chief Narinder Batra claiming to have been offered Rs one crore by the Tamil Nadu strongman to support his candidature during the 2014 IOA elections.
In a letter addressed to Ramachandran, Batra asked him to forward the complaint to the IOA Ethics Commission failing which he said he would approach the IOC Ethics Commission.
“Mr Ramachandran Sir, you in January/ February 2014 during the IOA Elections in which you stood for the post of President IOA and got elected unopposed, had sent a gentleman to meet me in my office with a proposal that you will give one crore rupees every year till you remain president and I should support your presidential candidature, the gentleman was politely asked by me to leave,” Batra wrote.
Batra claimed he was asked to keep mum by senior IOA officials because of India’s lingering suspension by the IOC but insisted he had witnesses to prove the veracity of his allegations.
“...At that time keeping in mind that IOA would get back its recognition and India would go under India flag and not IOC flag in international sports events and the evidence issue, I decided to take a back seat,” Batra wrote. He also asked Ramachandran to resign immediately and make “Mr V K Malhotra, life president IOA as Acting President until the IOA selects/ elects a new president.”
Ramachandran, however, has denied the charges and threatened to sue if the letter contained any defamatory material.