India "appears no closer to a return to the Olympic fold" as officials from the country's Olympic association and sports ministry "bicker over a controversial government sports code," according to Sudipto Ganguly of REUTERS. The IOC banned the country after refusing to recognize the results of Indian Olympic Association elections held on Dec. 5 "due to government interference, which led to a tainted official being named its new secretary general." The IOA and sports ministry "blame each other for failing to arrive at a consensus over the controversial code," which would restrict age and term limits for sports administrators. In a letter to the IOC last week, IOA acting chief and Indian Archery Association Head V.K. Malhotra "accused the sports ministry of railroading national federations into accepting the sports bill." Malhotra wrote, "While we endorsed your move for a dialogue involving the government, it has gone ahead and constituted a committee to re-draft the controversial sports bill, which is in total breach of the Olympic charter." In a letter addressed to IOC President Jacques Rogge, Clean Sports India, a movement for corruption-free sports in the country, "accused Malhotra of delaying the process of getting the ban rescinded" due to his "vested interest." A top-level source said that 53 of 55 national sports federations "had agreed to the code and it was Malhotra and IOC member Randhir Singh who were resisting it, thus delaying India's return to the Olympic family" (REUTERS, 4/10).
