New Delhi: With just three months to go before the hockey World Cup is staged in India, the problems within the national body came out in the open when Hockey India (HI) secretary Mohammed Aslam Khan submitted his resignation.

While Khan said HI’s failure to hold elections within the promised six-months forced him to relinquish the post on moral ground, growing differences with the other members is said to be the main reason for his sudden action.

However, HI, which has come under immense pressure from the ministry of sports and the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Friday said that the elections would be held in the first week of February.

“We have decided to hold the elections in the first week of February. The FIH has agreed to this. We will sort out all the issues and have a re-look at the affiliation disputes,” HI president A.K. Mattoo said.

“The FIH had received some letters regarding affiliations. We will go through the entire process and resolve all issues,” he added.

Unperturbed by the latest development, Khan, in his resignation letter to Mattoo, spoke of “…the continuous disturbances from the office bearers of other major federations in the working of Hockey India.

“I am sure if the tables are turned and Hockey India administrators start interfering in their federations… it will not be taken well. This only caused serious delays in the smooth running of Hockey India and this is the cause behind the elections being delayed.”

Although Khan was not ready to explain further, sources said his grievances were against a couple of top officials from the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), who were keen to replace Khan with former Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) vice-president Narendra Batra as the new HI secretary.