Gopala Krishna Kosaraju, the former president of the Andhra Pradesh Football Association (APFA), has accused the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its president, Kalyan Chaubey, of facilitating political interference that has caused divisions within the state's football administration.
Kosaraju claimed the involvement of political figures in sports bodies has disrupted football development in Andhra Pradesh. He asserted that the encouragement of parallel structures has resulted in confusion and a decline in the sport’s progress.
“We were duly elected in the year 2019 to 2023. We have brought in one League club also to play at Visakhapatnam in the year 2021. And we sponsored and proposed Bhaichung Bhutia, who is our Indian football legend, to represent Andhra Pradesh and to contest in the elections conducted for the All India Football Federation President in the year 2022, in the month of September 2022. But unfortunately, Bhutia lost that election. Kalyan Chaubey won that election. But the real problem started from that day only,” Kosaraju said.
He added, “By that time, Kalyan Chaubey and team started sponsoring and promoting one Member of Parliament, Kotagiri Sridhar, who started the ‘Andhra Pradesh Football Federation’ with a registered office at Eluru. He started one more federation, and he has been promoted and supported by Kalyan Chaubey and team.”
Kosaraju highlighted the 2022 AIFF elections as a turning point in Andhra Pradesh football following Bhutia’s defeat to Chaubey. He alleged that the formation of a parallel body led by Kotagiri Sridhar has fragmented the football environment in the state.
In 2022, Kalyan Chaubey replaced Praful Patel as AIFF president, winning the election by 33 out of 34 votes against Bhaichung Bhutia. Chaubey has represented prominent Kolkata clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal, as well as Salgaocar from Goa.
Closing his press conference, Kosaraju reiterated his call for remedial action from the AIFF, saying, “I am appealing to AIFF to correct their mistakes, which were made by their observer, and make a request to the court to conduct a fresh election with the eligible voters available in the year 2023. And another appeal I am giving to the state is: the entire club should play under one roof, as we did earlier in Vizag and in the state, for better football, which we have shown you till 2023. Now there is no football at all, simply ruined, completely spoiled, and everything is a money-making thing they are doing.”