Model code stops govt from announcing incentive for Gomathi Marimuthu

Chennai: The state government could not announce incentives to honour athlete Gomathi Marimuthu, who won the 800 m gold at the Asian Athletics Championship last week, owing to the enforcement of the Election Commission's Model Code of Conduct (MCC), fisheries minister D. Jayakumar has said.

He however hastened to add that the government had sought permission from the EC and after "clearance" is obtained from the Election Commission, the government would make the announcement.

The MCC came into force on March 10 this year. Gomathi had won gold at the recently-concluded Asian Athletics Championship in Doha. She is now focussed on qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, media reports said. The athlete hails from a village near Tiruchy.

The Election Commission's guidelines for political parties and candidates prohibits parties in power from announcing financial grants in any form, Mr Jayakumar told reporters at the airport here on Monday. Refuting allegation that the state government failed to encourage Gomathi, he said it was the government under Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami who had enhanced the quota in government jobs for sports persons to three per cent from two. "Only Amma (former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa) government has been bestowing importance on sports," he said.

"That is a false allegation. It is worrying that knowingly or unknowingly that opinion is being expressed. Now the code of conduct is in place. At that time, without the clearance of the EC, (support) cannot be given. We have written to the Election Commission. If we get clearance, the Chief Minister is ready to provide all help in a happy way. Action will be taken after the Election Commission clearance is received," he added.

Days after winning the gold, Gomathi had said, "if the Tamil Nadu government supports me, I can try further, to win a medal at the Olympics. There is one more year for the competition." Stating that the government was set to help her, she requested, "no one else should struggle the way I have. It would be helpful if the Tamil Nadu government helped them."

She knew of many athletes who had given up on their sporting careers due to lack of support, Gomathi had said.