Angbuhang, 32, is believed to be close to party chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.[break]
NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama, who is also a UCPN (Maoists) cadre, dissolved the Pandey committee, stating that it has not called electoral general assembly of CAN despite NSC giving deadlines twice.
The newly-formed committee includes Ram Chandra Sharma, Tarani Bikram Shah, Chatur Bahadur Chand, Shree Niwas Rana, Keshav Ghimire and Sunil Man Amatya as vice-presidents. Shah and Rana were vice-president in the committee led by Jaya Kumar Nath Shah until September 29, 2006. Chand was vice-president in the Pandey committee too.
Ashok Man Pyakurel, who was secretary in the Shah committee, has been appointed as the general secretary of CAN while Thakur Prashad Pahari has been appointed as the secretary in the newly-formed committee. Raj Babu Shrestha retained the post of treasurer.
Naresh Kumar Shrestha, Uttam Kumar Karmacharya, Rajesh KC, Chattra Prashad Adhikari, Binood Kumar Mainali, Amit Bir Pandey, Bipan Ram Chaudhary, Shailesh Kumar Chaudhary, Anup Thapa, Basanta Raj Satyal, Prakash Chandra Ghimire, Ramesh Singh Dhami and Dhirendra Saud are members in the new executive committee.
Shrestha, Karmacharya, Adhikari, Mainali, Shailesh Kumar Chaudhary and Satyal were also members of the outgoing committee.
Mandate to amend statute and hold election
NSC has given the new executive committee the mandate to amend the statute of CAN and hold electoral general assembly within two months. "There were lobbies within the Pandey committee and they could not hold electoral general assembly. As I tried to solve the problems, I had to take a harsh decision," said Member Secretary Lama.
Lama defended his decision to appoint his party leader Angbuhang as president of CAN. "I held several meetings with him and he was able to bring former cricketers and officials together in his team. I hope he can conduct election within the given 60 days," said Lama.
´Political leadership helps the sport´
Angbuhang, who had contested the Constituent Assembly election from Constituency No. 2 of Taplejung district, is the first political figure to lead CAN in its six-decade long history.
"Sport is an important area and it should be in state´s priority. Political leadership can ensure this," said Angbuhang. "I´ve shown my interest in leading CAN with this logic," he added. He gave examples of different state level cricket boards led by politicians in India to justify his appointment.
"The work of infrastructure development and participating in tournaments will go on as per schedule and my team will focus on amending the statute of CAN and holding electoral general assembly," said Angbuhang. "I´ll soon make my actionplan public but I´ll speak less and prove myself through my work," he added. He said that he will consult former officials and experts in managing the affairs of CAN.
Pandey´s best wishes
Outgoing CAN president Pandey expressed his best wishes to the newly-formed committee. "My team will organize a press conference on Sunday and inform public what Nepal and CAN have achieved under our leadership," said Pandey.
"Former President Jay Kumar Nath Shah and I were the people who attended ICC meetings on our expenses for affiliation and I was still working on the ground yesterday (Monday) for hosting the upcoming ACC Twenty20 Cup despite knowing that NSC is forcing changes within CAN. Cricket is my passion and I was not there for the post," he added.
Pandey said that he is ready to share his experience with the new committee if it makes such requests. "I´ve my best wishes for them," he said. However, he expressed reservations over NSC decision to appoint a party cadre as CAN president.
The annual conference of International Cricket Council (ICC) had announced in June that all member associations should be free from government interference in elections or other administrative affairs.
However, Pandey said that he´ll not report NSC action to ICC. "I´m truly a cricket lover and will not report the matter to ICC," said Pandey. "I´ll not give any trouble to the new committee, Rather, I´ll help them if they ask," he added.
Pandey was appointed as CAN president on September 29, 2006 by the then NSC Member Secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha after dissolving the committee led by Jay Kumar Nath Shah.
A group of former players led by Aamir Akhtar has been protesting against the Pandey committee and had filed public interest litigation against CAN, blaming it for not holding elections for decades.
Paneru charges Pandey, NSC
Tanka Paneru, general secretary of the outgoing committee, blamed Pandey and NSC leadership for the NSC decision to appoint Angbuhang as CAN president.
"Ours too was not an elected committee. Our president submitted a decade old draft of the statute to NSC without consulting board and it created controversy within CAN," said Paneru. "NSC leadership to make grounds for today´s step approved it," he added.
The statute had the provision of giving voting rights to the executive members and three representatives each from eight cricketing regions and there was debate within CAN to host election first or amend the statute including voting rights of district representatives.
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