Anju Bobby George quits as Kerala sports chief

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala State Sports Council president Anju Bobby George resigned from her post along with her entire administrative board on Wednesday. The Olympian's six-and-a-half-month tenure is said to have gone off track following the unpleasant showdown with sports minister EP Jayarajan. Interestingly, the council, on its last day, endorsed a three-member ethics committee "to look into all the malpractices in the council" and also demanded a vigilance inquiry into the council's activities during the past one decade.
"When I took charge, I thought sports administration here would be beyond the influence of any religion or politics.But I realized it was not so. Now, I don't need any position to carry out my responsibility, which is to serve and support Kerala sports and the budding athletes here," Anju, the long jump great, told newspersons while announcing her resignation here.
However, the council which met before the news conference, gave the final approval for its proposed 'ethics committee' with Ajeetha Begum, the current Kollam rural SP, as its chairperson. Anju said her fight was not against any individuals, but against the trend of malpractices.
"The council's original intention was to submit before the government a big file incorporating all the murky deals, including the sports lottery scam. All these corrupt activities should be probed into and the culprits brought to book," she demanded. Anju said it wasn't proper for her to continue in the position and that the resignation of the entire administrative board was a unanimous decision. The 12-member board was nominated by the previous UDF government and also had Arjuna awardees Tom Joseph and Preeja Sreedharan.