Amitabh Choudhary feels CoA head Vinod Rai failed to implement Lodha reforms in full

Choudhary and Rai have been at logger-heads since long back.

Choudhary and Rai have been at logger-heads since long back.Committee of Administrators (COA) chief Vinod Rai came under fire from BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary, as he termed Rai a "complete failure" in the implementation of the Supreme Court-mandated Lodha Committee reforms.

CoA has pretty much sidelined the BCCI office bearers in Choudhary and Treasurer Aniruddh Chaudhry and even called for their termination.

"The unfortunate fact that I conclude is that after one and half years, Mr Rai has realised apart from writing e-mails, he has not been able to do anything else. He was mandated to implement the reforms and he has been a complete failure," the former Additional Director General of Police (Jharkhand) told PTI.

This is the first time Choudhary has spoken anything aimed directly at Rai.

"Rai is trying to run down the office-bearers because he has failed to engage them in a positive manner despite having spent one and half years which was mostly spent in making appointments in opaque processes, which I brought to everyone's notice," he said in reference to appointment of Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) Chief Ajit Singh and GM (marketing) Priya Gupta.

"How can anyone talk about the Supreme Court in such a manner? Least of all, someone who has spent over four decades in the government," Choudhary said, as Rai spoke about the frustrating time taken by SC to pass the final reform.

Choudhary said Rai's allegations about him being "non-co-operative" are "completely untrue".

He says, "Have a look at the Status reports. There was praise for me (4th Status). If I had not been cooperating, then how come in the month of February, I forwarded the suggestion after having persuaded 13 states to accept the reforms barring three four points whose liberty the Hon'ble SC had granted.

"I had given an undertaking in SC that I will cooperate in bringing reforms. My credentials are for everyone to see. So now am I eating my own words or someone else is?" he questioned.

Choudhary also found the point about comparisons between the daily allowances of players with that of the office-bearers. Office-bearers get USD 750 per day, the Indian team gets USD 250, which according to Rai, is one of the reasons for "vested interests".

Choudhary explained, "I have two simple counter questions. Are our TA/DAs in accordance with rules that are there in BCCI? If they are so be it. Now my second counter: If you are comparing our allowances to those of players, you are conveniently forgetting that they are getting match fees along with annual central contract. So Rai's comparisons are blatantly unfair. You expect an honorary person to travel somewhere spending money from his own pocket. Check the fourth Status Report what DA I was drawing then and what is it now."

"You can't blame members for feeling aggrieved. It is the same members, who agreed on most reforms. They are not your servants, at best they are colleagues or friends. There is a manner in going about things. If you know that, you will succeed. If you treat them as enemies or servants, you will not get anything. He has failed," he concluded.

(With PTI inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 04 Aug, 2018

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