NEW DELHI: Bhaichung Bhutia has taken the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) election mandate to heart. Not that he has not lost any contest earlier, on and off the field, but this time the 33-1 loss to Kalyan Chaubey dealt a severe blow to India's most decorated footballer.
"I am not attending the executive committee meeting today (Saturday). And I have to think whether I shall continue to be part of the executive committee or not," Bhutia told TOI on Saturday morning.
The government interference that made the AIFF elections one-sided shocked Bhutia the most. Though he was aware about the forces he would be taking on, the former India skipper now stands exposed to the immensity of the impact.
"I knew there would be pressure from the government. But I never expected it to be so blatant. If they were so confident of winning then what was a Union minister doing at their hotel till late in the night?" he said.
Bhutia said he could not even get in touch with his "voters". "I want the people to know what went behind the scenes. It required the presence of a Union minister to secure votes against me in a football federation election. I tried calling the Rajasthan association representative, even his phone was not available."
Bhutia's candidature was endorsed by Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh associations. But he only got the vote of the latter. Andhra Pradesh association representative Gopalkrishna Kosaraju told TOI, "This total politicisation of the AIFF election s will not go down well in the future. We have embarrassed our most decorated football player who played for the country in more than 100 matches. It is not a nice example that we have set."
He added: "Who in his right senses would believe that Bhutia is a worse candidate than Chaubey?"
Kosaraju and Rajasthan association's Manvendra Singh confirmed a Union minister's presence in the city hotel where all the association members were staying.
