J-K sports minister assures fair probe into team selection for Santosh Trophy

The camp continued till December 12, and the selection committee finally selected 23 players, including four from Jammu, for the team to represent JK in the Santosh Trophy, the official said and added that one of the Jammu boys could not join due to some examination, while another is joining the team in the coming days.

Jammu and Kashmir sports minister Satish Sharma on Monday assured a time-bound and impartial inquiry into Santosh Trophy team selection, a day after the BJP alleged discrimination with the Jammu region and demanded his resignation.

Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council had already dismissed the allegations as misleading and defended the selection as merit-based and transparent.

''Taking Cognizance of the media reports regarding issues in selection of team for football championship for Santosh Trophy, a detailed impartial enquiry shall be held in a time-bound manner.

''I assure all that violation of the merit-based selection policy by anyone will result in severe consequences and appropriate punitive measures,'' the minister said in a social media post.

Alleging an ''illegal and discriminatory'' selection process for the trophy, J&K BJP Spokesperson Rajni Sethi on Sunday claimed that all players from Jammu were rejected and only players from Kashmir were selected for the Santosh trophy team.

''...the National Conference government continues to repeatedly hurt the sentiments of the youth of Jammu through biased and discriminatory policies,'' she said and added that Jammu had high expectations from Satish Sharma, who belongs to Jammu, but he ''followed the same discriminatory approach.'' Responding the same day, a sports council official said, ''The players for the Santosh Trophy were selected in a process lasting more than one-and-a-half months. In the absence of the J&K football Association due to non-conduct of elections, the sports council has been raising the teams in coordination with the All India Football Federation for the past two years and has ensured merit-based and transparent selection.'' The official further said that after the trials, out of 51 players, 32, including eight from the Jammu region, were shortlisted for the residential coaching camp in Jammu from November 21. The camp continued till December 12, and the selection committee finally selected 23 players, including four from Jammu, for the team to represent J&K in the Santosh Trophy, the official said and added that one of the Jammu boys could not join due to some examination, while another is joining the team in the coming days.

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