Hyderabad: The state Olympic body row just refuses to die down.
On Thursday, the Telangana Olympic Association made a show of strength, advising the Sports Authority of Telangana State to not interfere in the functioning of the body.
This is the latest in a series of back-and-forth involving the TOA and the rival Olympic Association of Telangana, both of whom are clamouring for legitimacy as the state’s representative Olympic Association.
Over in Andhra Pradesh, a similar battle is being fought between two rival Olympic bodies, one headed by Telugu Desam MP C.M. Ramesh and the other headed by Jayadev Galla, also a TD MP.
Thursday’s development came about after a 30-strong mob comprising officials from the OAT and their affiliated units had tried to forcibly evict TOA officials from the Olympic Bhavan, on Lal Bahadur stadium premises. This followed a letter from the Sports Authority of Telangana State (SATS) to both the TOA president and general secretary to hand over the Olympic Bhavan to OAT.
TOA president Jithender Reddy on Thursday said the government has no right to ask them to vacate the building as the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association — from which the TOA was formed — had occupied the building since 1999.
“The land on which the Olympic Bhavan stands was leased from the then Andhra Pradesh government for a period of 30 years. The building itself was constructed using funds accrued through contributions from various sources and members. It does not belong to the government and SATS does not have the right to ask us to hand it over to the rival body,” he said.
In this regard, Jithender Reddy added, they have written to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Maintaining that they are the official state Olympic Association, Jithender said they have already filed a petition (No.14299) in the High Court in 2015, asking the HC to recognise them and the AP Olympic Association as the official bodies, and not the ones headed by K. Ranga Rao (OAT) or Jayadev Galla.
“The matter is sub-judice, and we hope for a positive judgement in this matter,” Jithender said. He also condemned Wednesday’s kerfuffle, and asked all parties involved not to resort to violence. “We don’t want to resort to rowdyism or goondagiri,” he said.
