Bhutia issue yet to be resolved

One who thought Baichung Bhutia would get away with Mohun Bagan ban and play for  East Bengal in the upcoming season at ease is mistaken. The passing-the-buck game is still going on.

After Indian Football Association (IFA) referred the matter to AIFF and then to the Players’ Status Committee (PSC), the issue is still unresolved and may again come back to IFA for a solution.

With the PSC also not finding a way on how to go about it, efforts are on to resolve the matter sitting across the table. “This is actually an ego fight between the Indian captain and the Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra. So, if we can bring them together and find a solution through discussion…That will be in the best interest of the game,” a maidan source, on the condition of anonymity, told DNA on Wednesday.

In that case, an AIFF representative along with members from IFA and PSC may arrange for a meeting with Bhutia and Mitra in a few days. “I feel that is the only way left to find a solution…Bhutia is our best footballer while Mohun Bagan is an institution,” the source added further.

But according to a member of the PSC, they are in complete dark about the details of the contract. “We don’t know the details and so we had written to the AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco asking for the necessary papers and the secretary has promised to provide those within a couple of days. After we get that, we can reveal the merits and
demerits of the case,” PSC member Debasish Banerjee said.

Since Colaco was out of station, the matter got delayed and a some progress is expected to be made in the next couple of days. When asked whether the solution is in sight, Banerjee said, “I can only say something once we get the papers.”