Faced with severe backlash for appointing Commonwealth scam accused Abhay Chautala and Suresh Kalmadi's as its life presidents, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Tuesday announced that it is taking back its controversial order.
Addressing the media, the president of the sports body said that no resolution to appoint Abhay Chautala and Suresh Kalmadi as life presidents was passed in the recently-concluded annual general meeting of the IOA.
Earlier, a political storm had erupted after the Sports Ministry cracked the whip on the Indian Olympic Association and suspended the Olympic body till the time it reversed the decision to make the scam-tainted duo of Suresh Kalmadi and Abhay Singh Chautala its life presidents.
The government took the decision on 30 December after the IOA failed to reply to its show-cause notice.
The government can’t approve of wrong things. The show-cause notice issued to the IOA was a serious one, but they didn’t respond and instead sought 15-days time. So the government has decided to suspend IOA till the time they withdraw the appointments.Vijay Goel, Sports Minister, India
Appointments Leave the IOA Divided
Kalmadi and Chautala were elevated to the honorary position at the IOA's Annual General Meeting in Chennai on 27 December, shocking the Indian sporting fraternity and leaving the Sports Ministry fuming.
Following the uproar while Kalmadi has declined the offer, Chautala continued to be defiant.
The appointments of the tainted duo also didn't go down well within IOA's own house with former Hockey India chief and newly-appointed International Hockey Federation (FIH) president Narinder Batra on Friday resigning as the Olympic body's associate vice-president in protest.
(With ANI inputs)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)