I'm an elected person, four-five people cannot remove me as HCA chief, says Azharuddin

Former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, who was removed from the post of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) President, has said he is being targeted for doing good things for the association. HCA Apex Council issued a showcause notice to Azharuddin. HCA said Azharuddin is a mentor of Cricket Club in Dubai, by name Northern Warriors, which is unrecognised by the BCCI.

"Therefore, you being a mentor of an unrecognized Cricket Tournament comes under the ambit of conflict of interest as envisaged under Rule 38(1)(iii) of the Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulations-2018 of the Hyderabad Cricket Association," read a statement from the showcause notice. The showcause notice from HCA also alleged that Azharuddin had "brazenly changed the official password" of the HCA e-mail so that no other office bearer could have access to the e-mails received from the BCCI and reply to the same.

Meanwhile, Azharuddin said four or five people can remove him from the post of HCA President since he an elected person. "I want to tell you something, I am an elected person. Four-five people cannot remove me as a president as I'm elected by the general body. This is all bogus news. This is all illegal things," Azharuddin told ANI. Reacting to charges of misconduct, Azharuddin said: "When they are already charged and under the scanner, how could they charge me? They are going to court every day not me. I didn't do any misconduct, they are doing misconduct. As they say, empty vessels make more noise that's the case with them, the vessels have become empty. I am being targeted for doing good things for the association. I don't want to do any illegal things and I just want to do what's good for the game of cricket." The former Indian skipper also said he was going to start a T20 tournament to nurture future stars.

"I am going to start the T20 tournament for all 200 plus clubs, and from those who will play the tournament, they might play for India in the future. Those people are only interested in clubs and not in cricket," he said. Azharuddin also called for an inquiry from Enforcement Directorate and CBI to find out the alleged corrupt practices being held in HCA.

"ED, CBI should do an inquiry to find out the corruption in the association. They are trying blackmailing activity but it will not work on me," he said. The former batsman also termed his suspension from the post of HCA president as a "false narrative".

"I call this a false narrative because it is indeed false and slanderous. I did not stoop down to such low levels because I always strived to maintain the dignity of the office," Azharuddin said in a press conference. "So that you are aware, the APEX Council of HCA has 9 members on it. Apart from myself, K. John, Manoj, R. Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal, Smt. Anuradha are elected members while Parth Satwalkar, Smt. Subhadra Suri represents the men's players council and women's players council respectively and Santosh Daware represents the CAG.

"If 5 members -- John Manoj, Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal and Smt. Anuradha gang up and call themselves 'APEX Council', by what sense of interpretation is it justified? I call it belligerent posturing with scant regard for the rule of law," he added.