CHENNAI: In what is turning out to be a competition to show who has the backing of how many in the All India Chess Federation (AICF), the secretary’s faction scored a minor victory of sorts on Sunday. In a general body meeting called by secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan in Gurugram, representatives of 20 associations turned up. The figure was 17 in the urgent general body meet called by AICF president PR Venketrama Raja in Chennai on December 14.
However, like the Chennai meeting which was not to be held going by a directive from the sports ministry, the Gurugram gathering also had a similar order from the same ministry. That’s why there was no announcement on what transpired. Raja’s faction has also called a general body meeting in Bhopal on December 28. The Madras High Court is expected to deliver a verdict on January 3, on which of the two meetings is valid.
Without declaring anything officially, the meeting called by Chauhan took important decisions. The general body decided that Chauhan’s reply to a show-cause notice issued to him by Raja is satisfactory. It can be noted that in the agenda of this meeting, the show-cause notice was referred to as “mala fide”. “The house decided that Chauhan doesn’t have to explain anything more. No action should be taken against him,” said a member who attended the meeting.
The Chauhan faction also challenged the decision of the Raja faction to hold elections on February 10 in Chennai. Their demand is that the elections be held on February 9 at a ‘neutral’ venue, other than Chennai or Delhi, where Raja and Chauhan are based. It is learnt that they want the elections in Ahmedabad. They also want a court-appointed observer instead of the standard practice of the AICF president conducting the meeting where elections are held.
It was also learnt that Gujarat Chess Association president Ajay Patel is the frontrunner to be Chauhan faction’s candidate for president. If this happens, Patel will take on Raja, an industrialist whose company has sponsored several players including Viswanathan Anand. And if things go according to the plans of the two sides, Bengal Chess Association secretary Atanu Lahiri may contest against Chauhan for the secretary’s post.
The members are treating the number of associations in attendance seriously. The AICF has 33 affiliated units, of which Himachal and Manipur are currently being run by ad-hoc panels and don’t have voting rights. So 20 out of 31 appears to be a significant figure, although rival factions are claiming that there are a few associations who have turned up in both meetings so far, hence not much should be read into the numbers right now.
The other rider is the meeting called by Raja on December 28 can again set aside the decisions taken in Sunday’s meeting. But to know which side prevails, one has to wait until the January 3 hearing.