APOA crisis back in the limelight

Hyderabad: The fissures within Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association (APOA) that were lying dormant for quite some time are back in the spotlight. It hardly matters whether it augurs well for the fraternity or not even as two rival factions are taking fresh guard to up the ante against one another, all over again.

Not ironically, spearheading the fight for a slice of the pie, are two leaders owing allegiance to the ruling Telugu Desam party (TDP)

In a renewed onslaught, Association General Secretary JC Pavan Reddy launched a scathing attack against the other group, which is headed by Guntur Lok Sabha member Galla Jayadev andPurshottam Naidu as President and General Secretary.

Launching a virulent attack against Jayadev and Co, Pavan Reddy alleged at a media interaction here on Saturday that the adversaries had usurped power using ‘dubious and fraudulent’ means to hoodwink the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in order to get its affiliation.

He welcomed the September 5 ruling by the bench of the Chief Justice of AP High Court where in it referred the dispute of the two APOA contenders to the IOA Arbitration Commission that comprised of three retired High Court judges, and giving them three months to resolve the issues amicably, once and for all.

Stating that his group had kept quite all these days because the matter was sub-judice, Pavan Reddy extended an olive branch and agreed to thrash the dispute across the table in order to ensure that athletes were not deprived of opportunities to make a name and progress on the career front.

Taking a position, he said that he hoped that the other group would join in the dialogue, failing which he would not hesitate to file a contempt of court against them.

He lamented that a time when the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu was going overboard in the promotion of sports, the administrators in the form of Jayadev and his group were misrepresenting facts and figures and scuttling the lofty and well-intended aspirations of Naidu. Pointing out that when Naidu had sought the two warring factions to bury the hatchet and ensure that a single clean administration is in place, his President CM Ramesh had vacated the post and given a free hand to Naidu to streamline the body. Pavan Reddy took exception to Jayadev hanging on to the post, which was tantamount to showing disrespect to the Chief Minister.

Stating that the other group had committed several excesses, each of which was damaging the fabric, Pavan demanded a CB-CID probe into all the activities initiated by the Jayadev group.

He clarified that in order set their points clear in the meeting they had condtituted a five-member Committee.
What is certain is that this is not the end of the story.