NEW DELHI: Congress leader Manish Tewari today accused the Union sports ministry of trying to "politicise" sports by seeking information on medal record of Indian athletes in the past four years for a comparison with the UPA government, a charge rejected by the Ministry.
Tewari, who held the portfolio of Information and Broadcasting during UPA-II, tweeted a screenshot of the letter, written purportedly by a sports ministry official to National Sports Federations, asking information on performance in the past four years for comparison.
The text of the letter posted by Tewari on twitter read: "MoS's (I/c) office sought the following information urgently: "The no. of medal won by India in the international events during the last four years -if a comparison is made with medal won by India during UPA government. This may kindly be treated as urgent."
"Tewari used the purported letter to hit out at the sports ministry and tweeted:"Isn't this blatant politicisation of sports? Read mail below: @Ra_THORe office is ostensibly asking Sports Federations for a comparison of the medals won by India in the past 4 years as opposed to UPA years? Sportspersons win medals for India not NDA/BJP or UPA! Very Shameful.
" When contacted, there was no response from the minister, however, officials in the ministry maintained that "Rathore never sought such comparison".
A National Sports Federation (NSF) official confirmed to PTI that they did receive a letter from the Sports ministry, asking about the medal count in the last four years.
"We had got the letter one week back and we have already sent our reply but I am not sure if it is asked for comparison with UPA," said the official.