“I have been denied the chance to contest for the President's post in the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) elections in January 2017 and all sorts of false allegations were being made against me,” said former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin.
READ: Azhar barred from attending HC SGM, ex-captain slams move
Azharuddin showed the press a copy of the letter, written by BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, which he claims is proof of his eligibility to contest the HCA elections. On January 10 of last year, the Ad hoc panel chairman P. C. Jain had sought clarification on whether Azhar can participate in the HCA elections.
An excerpt from the letter states that: “The BCCI order (debarring Azhar) was set aside by the Andhra Pradesh High Court order dated November 8, 2012. In view thereof, the BCCI order no longer debars Mr. Azharuddin from holding any position in the ICC\BCCI or any of its affiliated Associations.”
“We are, however, not expressing any view on whether Mr. Azharuddin is otherwise qualified or disqualified from participating in the ongoing elections of HCA as it is not for the BCCI to examine or advise on the eligibility or non-eligibility of persons seeking to contest elections to State Associations,” says the BCCI official’s letter.
“This letter clearly shows that a total fraud was committed on me and I was denied a chance to democratically contest the elections which were actually a farce,” Azhar said in a chat with Sportstar on Wednesday.
“I am not sure who suppressed this crucial communication before the January 2017 elections to HCA. But, it is indisputable that there was a conspiracy to keep me away from entering the HCA,” Azhar said.
“I am also shocked that Dr. G. Vivek Venkatswamy (president of HCA) says that since I am not getting the BCCI pension given to former cricketers, that was proof that the ban on me was not lifted. I have proof that (shows another letter) that I am not denied of these benefits,” he said.
Referring to the charges by the HCA chief that he had tried to attend the last SGM as proxy, Azhar also showed the letter head of the National Cricket Club, which has his name in its list of office-bearers. “Now, I ask Dr. Vivek whether he can deny whether there were no proxies at all in the same SGM just because they happen to be his supporters,” he said.
“More importantly, I was issued an identity card - International Cricketer - by the former HCA president Arshad Ayub and the Secretary K. John Manoj. This is again as per the Justice Lodha panel recommendations,” he pointed out. “So, the whole objective was to deny me from attending the meeting and taking part in the elections. I don’t know why they are doing this and are so scared of me,” Azhar said.
"I challenge whether the HCA president can show any letter from the Telangana Government stating that he was not holding any such post, as anyone holding a Government post will come under the purview of conflict of interest as per the Justice Lodha panel guidelines," Azhar said.
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