Ohri demands fresh elections to RCA

JAIPUR: Despite being engaged in a tussle with president Sanjay Dixit, secretary of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) Ashok Ohri has demanded intervention from the government to form an ad hoc body and eventually hold fresh elections to end the dispute which is bringing disrepute to the sport.
Earlier, Ohri attended a meeting of the district units of his camp, along with the 13 who had supported Lalit Modi in the elections last month.Since then, the tussle between Dixit and Ohri has seen both demeaning each other's authority. Ohri perhaps realized that it was a no-win situation despite his claiming majority in the general body as Dixit enjoys majority in the executive body.
"The only solution to end this struggle is to form an ad hoc body and hold fresh elections. Sooner the government acts, the better it will be. The maximum period the ad hoc body can function is three months. So even if it formed next month after the general elections we would be able to hold fresh elections in August. The next cricket season starts in September, so it would be better to have a new committee before August 15," said Ohri.
"The constitution of the RCA has no provision of removing either the president or the secretary. It doesn't matter if they have the majority in the executive or we have that in the general body. It is hard to function in such a situation where confrontation is bound to happen," he argued.
Criticizing Dixit, Ohri said that he worked in accordance with a plan to take control of the RCA by wresting the control of the district units who oppose him. "I wanted to save the districts. I had few options like resigning or surrendering and bowing out. That is why I opposed Dixit. He has formed committees and, without being approved by the AGM. They have started to function. Reportedly, they have suspended the membership of Baran and Alwar district units. We feel this is totally illegal," he said.
"We have conducted an EGM (extra-ordinary general body meeting) on Friday in which 20 district units were present. There were 19 secretaries and four presidents from the district units. Few had left after signing the resolutions. Unanimously, we have decided that the RCA secretary would be performing all the duties with powers granted to him bythe constitution. The president or any other person is prohibited to issue letters on behalf of the RCA. All the decisions taken by Dixit are nullified. The AGM of the RCA would be held on April 20," said Ohri.
He said that a cricket committee, consisting of Parthasarathi Sharma, Vinod Mathur, Ratan Singh, Vivek Bhan Singh and Shamsher Singh, has been formed. This panel would take decisions related to cricket. Ohri was also not happy with the tag of "Modi loyalist" for the 13 districts which had supported Modi in March elections. "They are also part of the RCA family. Even Subhash Joshi was a Modi loyalist before elections. Modi has informed us that he will not be a candidate if fresh elections are held," said Ohri, who now has support of those 12-13 district units.
About reports that Dixit faction is operating the bank accounts of RCA, Ohri said, "The constitution has the provision that the treasurer with the secretary or any one member authorized by the executive can operate the accounts. As I am based at Bikaner, we had added the name of the president and the deputy president. We are now going to write to the banks that only the secretary with the treasurer would be authorized to operate the accounts."