A day after senior Congress leader and Indian Olympic Association vice-president Jagdish Tytler circulated in the media an IOC letter which barred Suresh Kalmadi from contesting next month’s IOA elections, his staunch supporter and senior vice-president Tarlochan Singh termed the move “motivated”.
“Those who are using their influence in the IOC to get these letters released have to understand that there is law of the land in India. Only the IOC’s general house has the power to decide the fate of Kalmadi or any other office-bearer,” Tarlochan told DNA. “All those who are trying to spread wrong information should look into their own conduct and remember they owe their entry into the IOA only to Kalmadi.”
In fact, it was Singh who managed the IOA affairs when Kalmadi was behind bars for almost 15 months. The ethics commission’s recommendation came after IOC president Jacques Rogge sought its view following Tytler’s query on the eligibility of Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and VK Verma to contest for the upcoming IOA elections.
In its reply, the ethics commission observed that in view of their tainted history, the trio’s candidature for the upcoming elections of the IOA was “not possible”.
However, Singh termed this a publicity stunt by the opposition camp, led by Randhir Singh. “Kalmadi has not been convicted in any case till now. No one has the right to decide on Kalmadi and others. Let the general house meet and take a decision. The law of land will prevail here,” he said on Sunday.
It was reported that the Kalmadi group had tied-up with Abhay Singh Chautala and enjoys an overwhelming majority in the IOA.
shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
