CHENNAI: Days after Kiren Rijiju was sworn in as the sports minister, there seems to be a huge rift brewing between his top official and national sports federations (NSF). At least one NSF has sent a letter to Rijiju accusing sports secretary Radheshyam Julaniya of “discourteous and disrespectful behaviour” towards Rowing Federation of India (RFI) president Rajalaxmi Singh Deo during their Annual Calendar for Training and Competition meeting held on June 18.
The letter, addressed to Rijiju and IOA president Narinder Batra, was sent two days after the meeting. “He has called RFI a useless federation and claimed that we haven’t achieved anything in the 35 years of existence. He called me a liar and made derogatory remarks and threatened to derecognise RFI,” reiterated Deo. “When I told him about the number of international medals rowers have won, he said it has nothing to do with the federation. How can he question us like that?”
However, Julaniya, when contacted, said he is not perturbed as the minutes of the entire ACTC meeting was recorded. “I asked them how many rowing centres are there in all the districts combined in India? If basic things have been neglected so far, then why should I allocate public money again to this federation? If asking valid questions is rude, then I have nothing to say,” Julaniya told this newspaper.
Not just RFI, a top Wrestling Federation of India official too revealed Julaniya was brash during their ACTC meeting.
IT looks like some National Sports Federations are at loggerheads with the sports secretary Radheshyam Julaniya over “discourteous” behaviour.In a mail sent by Rowing Federation of India president Rajalaxmi Singh Deo to sports minister Kiren Rijiju and IOA president Narinder Batra, Deo has accused Julaniya of impolite behaviour during their Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC) meeting held on June 18.
“He said that I as president should sell my position to the highest bidders. He also made remarks about my appearance and called me a liar,” Deo said. However, Julaniya maintained that he hasn’t done anything wrong and wanted clarification before allocating a budget. “Rowers have done well mainly because of the army and I can’t help it if she finds it rude when I question that.”
This newspaper has reliably come to know that it is not just RFI that has a problem with Julaniya. A top Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) official revealed that Julaniya was making arrogant statments without knowing the heart of the matter.
“He is not on good terms with our president. He has the rights to ask us to conduct a national camp. But he can’t decide who will be the technical officials at the camp. What qualifications does he have to decide all that?” the official added.