Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna today said that he has "no desire to continue" as the president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) and has offered to step down from the top post of the governing body.
Khanna today informed the AITA Executive Committee members that he has made up his mind to step down as AITA President. The next EC meeting will be held on November 5.
"I have no desire to continue as AITA President. Not because of the guidelines but because of my tight schedule. I will be travelling extensively in the next four years. They can not remove me with wrong implementation and wrong interpretation of Sports Code, for that the AITA will fight till the end and has the legal door always open," Khanna told PTI in an exclusive interaction.
Khanna, who has been under pressure to step down after the Sports Ministry threatened to derecognize AITA by firing a fresh notice on Tuesday, has already offered to relinquish office at the next Annual General Meeting of the association.
In a letter to new Sports Secretary Rajiv Yadav, dated October, 9 2015, Khanna expressed his wish to step down since he will not be able to devote much time to day-to-day affairs of AITA due to his obligations and responsibilities as ITF Vice President and ATF President.
Khanna had also sought a meeting with Yadav to explain how with his enhanced stature in world tennis, he can work in tandem with the government to help Indian tennis but never got a reply.
Khanna was elected as AITA President for a four-year term (2012-2016) after serving as AITA Secretary General for two consecutive terms.
The Sports Code requires a cooling off period of four years if an office-bearer seeks relection after serving two consecutive terms.
