SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Jan 2: Dispute deepened in All Jharkhand Chess Association (AJCA) as general secretary Neeraj Mishra resigned from his post.
AJCA coordinator Prabhat Ranjan confirmed the resignation and said that Neeraj Mishra had telephoned him about the resignation. At present, Neeraj Mishra is officiating the National Women’s championship at Kolhapur (Maharashtra).
Sources said that Neeraj Mishra resigned in protest against an urgent meeting called by president Pradip Verma at Ranchi on January 3 and the agenda was fixed without informing him.
President has called an urgent meeting in wake of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) letter of December 31. AICF has sought Action Taken Report (ATR) in 72 hours from the Jharkhand association over Pritam Singh and Bholanath Das scuffle.
Bholanath Das of Jamshedpur had compliant AICF that Pritam Singh had slapped and abused him publicly during the state championship held at Ranchi on October 27 but state officials have yet to take action against him even after two months after the incident.
Pritam Singh, 12-time state champion and former general secretary of the state body is considered a close associate of the president.
Sources said Neeraj Mishra had constituted a five-member committee comprising senior vice-president Vijay Kumar Singh (Hazaribag), joint secretary Basant Khandelwal (West Singhbhum), Ajay Kumar (Saraikela Kharsawan), treasurer Satish Kumar (Ranchi) and East Singhbhum general secretary NK Tiwary to probe Bholanath Das-Pritam Singh to probe the incident.
But sources said president Pradip Verma exercising his power dumped the committee of the general secretary and asked tournament director Manish Kumar to give a report about the incident. Manish Kumar is yet to submit a report.
Neeraj Mishra has sent a resignation saying that he feels humiliated by the action of the association (president). An official of the association said since AICF has sought a report in 72 hours, the meeting has to be called on short notice. Neeraj Mishra is out of state, so there was no time to get him consulted over an emergent meeting.
Both president and general secretary of the association have been at loggerheads for the last five years chocking the development of games in the state. Pradip Verma has been president since 2013 while Neeraj Mishra is general secretary since 2016.
As per the notice uploaded by AJCA Prabhat Ranjan in the group of officials besides the Bholanath Das-Pritam Singh issue 2022, other agenda of the urgent meetings are the 2020 dispute between Pritam Singh-Basant Khandelwal and 2020 Rohan Shandilya-Pritam Singh row.
“The date of the election would be also discussed at the January 3 meeting,” said Prabhat Ranjan. The election of the state body was due in May 2022.
