The power struggle within the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) intensified ahead of Thursday’s executive council meeting, the first after the Paris Olympics.

The members of the executive council who do not see eye-to-eye with the president and celebrated former athlete PT Usha on several issues have sent a letter asking for 14 “additional Agenda Points, for the purpose of good governance and transparency”.

Among these points, the members want “to discuss the additional expenditure incurred in Paris Olympics and unauthorized expenses done at Paris Olympics with regards to Room Upgrade of President at (sic) cost of IOA, deliberate upon the scope of powers of the president under the IOA Constitution and on the need for reporting the conduct of the president to the IOA Ethics Commission”.

The communication has been signed by 12 council members, including senior vice-president Ajay Patel, vice-president Rajalaxmi Singh Deo, vice-president and London Olympics medallist Gagan Narang, joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey, treasurer Sahdev Yadav, member and former wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt and member and former archer Dola Banerjee.

The members who did not sign include boxer MC Mary Kom and table tennis star Sharath Kamal. They are also on the association’s athletes commission.

Usha had issued a show-cause notice to treasurer Yadav, who controls the Indian Weightlifting Federation of India, for “filing and furnishing false information with the IOA, misappropriation and writing off public money belonging to the IOA for the benefit of IWLF and its office bearers.” That was on September 10. Yadav, on Tuesday, threatened legal action against Usha for “defaming” his image.

Senior vice-president Patel also sent a letter to Usha asking on what ground the president termed his election “illegal”. “...Both you and I were elected throughthe same process under the supervision of the Honourable Supreme Court. There is no question regarding the legality of my election,” the letter stated.

“It’s no holds barred now. Our president was making the council members look like corrupt people, so we decided to give it back. It will be a stormy meeting on Thursday. We want answers from the president,” an executive council member told The Telegraph on Wednesday. “It’s not us who threw a spanner in the works. It’s the other way round,” the member added.

According to the formal notice for the executive council meeting sent by Usha, the agenda mentioned a discussion on chief executive officer Raghu Iyer’s appointment. “But now that the council members want discussions on so many points, those would be raised I think,” an official, who is believed to be close to Usha, said.

The aggrieved council members also want deliberations on “illegal and threatening letters issued by the President to the members of the Executive Committee from time to time, the Sponsorship details of Paris Olympics, the additional expenditure incurred in Paris Olympics, the list of accreditation cards issued to various people at Paris Olympics including various Passes and Invites, the issue of selection process adopted for selecting the Sports Person of Outstanding Merit and their participation in the election of the IOA”.

The athletes commission had picked eight sportspersons of outstanding merit (SoM) in December 2022. Usha, Yogeshwar Dutt, MM Somaya (hockey), Rohit Rajpal (tennis), Akhil Kumar (boxing), Suma Sirur (shooting), Aparna Popat (badminton) and Dola Banerjee were on that list.

Loss incurred

The Office of the Director General of Audit (Central Expenditure), in a letter dated September 17, has stated the “unauthorised removal of Rs 3.12 crore was to be recovered with interest of Rs. 16.90 crore from four federations”.

The four under-fire associations are Indian Weightlifting Federation of India, Hockey India, Ski and Snowboard India and the Gymnastic Federation of India.

“Loss to IOA of Rs 311.72 lakh and unauthorized removal of the same from the notes of accounts. The above amount of Rs. 16.90 crore should be recovered from the federations along with the interest under intimation to audit,” the letter said.

Usha’s September 10 letter to treasurer Yadav was on the basis of these findings.