M A I N   N E W S

Cabinet’s no to Uma’s proposal
Sports remains on State List
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 4
The controversial Union Sports Minister, Ms Uma Bharati, suffered a serious setback to her ambition of exercising government control over sports bodies when her proposal for shifting sports to the Concurrent List came to nought.

There was stout opposition to Ms Bharati’s proposal at the meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here in the forenoon.

The overwhelming view of senior ministers was that shifting sports to the Concurrent List from the State List would have serious repercussions and whip up another avoidable controversy. The matter was not all that simple as it entailed amending the Constitution and the BJP-led NDA Government could find itself barking up the wrong tree yet again.

Being in the vanguard of the NDA, the BJP realises that without building a consensus any attempt at amending the Constitution will be a futile exercise especially as the ruling coalition at the Centre does not have the majority in the Rajya Sabha.

Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa expressed strong reservation over bringing sports within the ambit of the Concurrent List. Mr Advani was forceful in emphasising that the move was ill conceived despite the sorry state of affairs in various sports federations.

Realising that her proposal had hit a serious roadblock, Ms Bharati withdrew her proposal thus giving up her efforts of taking charge of the functioning of the sports federations through the back door.

The firebrand Ms Bharati recently had some unsavoury exchanges with officials of the overarching Indian Olympic Association as well some others heading sports federations with the inaugural Afro-Asian Games scheduled to be held here in November. There have also been allegations of drug abuse by sportspersons and the lack of accountability by those managing certain sports bodies.

Ms Bharati has lost round one of assuming control of sports federations even though a majority of the state governments have supported the idea.