Gangtok: Unfazed by the heavy defeat at the hands of Kalyan Choubey in the recently held elections for the post of aiff President, Former Captain of India Bhaichung Bhutia Said on Wednesday that he would contribute to working hard for the development of football in the country.
“I am committed to work for the development of football in the country,” he told reporters at a news conference a day after returning to his home state, Sikkim,
He thanked all those people and various social organizations and political parties for supporting him during the election process.
Bhutia said, “It is time to dust off all election related issues and focus on the ongoing work for the betterment of the beautiful game of football in the country.”
The 45-year-old former striker said he was “shocked to see the level of political interference in the election for various AIFF posts, with three Union ministers and around nine chief ministers interfering at various levels to influence the outcome.”
However, he refrained from naming politicians who had interfered in the election process.
“Whatever has been said and done on the election results cannot be undone, but I would like to once again congratulate Kalyan Choubey on being elected as the AIFF President and hope that football will flourish under his chairmanship.” Bhutia said.
At the same time, the former footballer regretted that the development of national and state association football had “suffered over the past several decades as the wrongdoers” due to “political influence”.
In response to various allegations by his political opponents questioning his contribution to football in Sikkim or elsewhere, he challenged him to come forward and run. United Sikkim Football Club for at least three years.
The former India captain said that he was keeping a positive attitude in view of the electoral turnaround and philosophically said that “even the heavenly powers want me to stay in Sikkim and do good work for the people”.
Bhutia, the founding leader of Hamro Sikkim Partytook a jibe at the rising crime graph in Sikkim and claimed that their state is at the top in terms of crimes against children.
“How can our society progress when we cannot even take care of our children? It is really sad to see a rise in crime against children in Sikkim as per the NCRB data,” he said.
People in various public positions in Sikkim should be ashamed of it (increasing crime against children in Sikkim), he said, taking a dig at the Prem Singh Tamang government with whom he does not have cordial relations.
“I am committed to work for the development of football in the country,” he told reporters at a news conference a day after returning to his home state, Sikkim,
He thanked all those people and various social organizations and political parties for supporting him during the election process.
Bhutia said, “It is time to dust off all election related issues and focus on the ongoing work for the betterment of the beautiful game of football in the country.”
The 45-year-old former striker said he was “shocked to see the level of political interference in the election for various AIFF posts, with three Union ministers and around nine chief ministers interfering at various levels to influence the outcome.”
However, he refrained from naming politicians who had interfered in the election process.
“Whatever has been said and done on the election results cannot be undone, but I would like to once again congratulate Kalyan Choubey on being elected as the AIFF President and hope that football will flourish under his chairmanship.” Bhutia said.
At the same time, the former footballer regretted that the development of national and state association football had “suffered over the past several decades as the wrongdoers” due to “political influence”.
In response to various allegations by his political opponents questioning his contribution to football in Sikkim or elsewhere, he challenged him to come forward and run. United Sikkim Football Club for at least three years.
The former India captain said that he was keeping a positive attitude in view of the electoral turnaround and philosophically said that “even the heavenly powers want me to stay in Sikkim and do good work for the people”.
Bhutia, the founding leader of Hamro Sikkim Partytook a jibe at the rising crime graph in Sikkim and claimed that their state is at the top in terms of crimes against children.
“How can our society progress when we cannot even take care of our children? It is really sad to see a rise in crime against children in Sikkim as per the NCRB data,” he said.
People in various public positions in Sikkim should be ashamed of it (increasing crime against children in Sikkim), he said, taking a dig at the Prem Singh Tamang government with whom he does not have cordial relations.