New Delhi: A day after sports minister M. S. Gill questioned Hockey India’s (HI) intentions of having free and fair elections, HI secretary Narender Batra said the ministry was functioning in a biased manner.

“The ministry seems too eager to support a group of people led by Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) president J.B. Roy and Hockey Punjab (HP) secretary Pargat Singh,” Batra said.

“I am sorry to say the Sports Ministry is working like the Ministry of Sports, Government of Punjab,” the HI secretary said. “Hockey Punjab had several malpractises and we were reluctant to grant them affiliation. But we had to do it under pressure from the ministry.”

Producing documentary evidence, the HI chief said all letters written by Bengal, Punjab and Delhi hockey associations to the sports ministry and Hockey India were actually written at the behest of the ministry.