visakhapatnam the top post at the ap olympic association has become a bone of contention between mps of the ruling telugu desam party tdp with two rival groups owing allegiance to guntur mp jayadev galla and rajya sabha mp cm ramesh claiming that theirs is the official body authorized to conduct the elections for the ap olympic association presidents post while one group has already conducted elections and announced the election of jayadev galla the soninlaw of yesteryears superstar gattamaneni krishna as the president of the ap olympic association in tirupati a 23 days ago the other group has proposed the name of tdp rs mp ramesh as its presidential candidate and anantapuram mp jc diwakar reddys son pawan reddy as secretarial candidate for the elections scheduled to be held on april 19 the kingmaker of the jayadev galla faction kodanda ramayya a national volleyball association veteran said his group controls a majority of the sports associations in the state and elections were conducted in the presence of observers from ioa and sports authority of andhra pradesh saap the top post of ap olympic association has become much coveted by politicians over the past few years after the then vijayawada mp lagadapati rajagopal from congress crossed swords with his own partys rajya sabha mp hanumantha rao in undivided ap the dispute had even landed up in courts now the first election of the body post bifurcation too has landed up in court after the jayadev galla group got recognition from the indian olympic association on tuesday the other group led by krishna district olympic association secretary kp rao has already filed a petition in the high court challenging the election held by the jayadev galla group rao said they would conduct the election on april 19 in the presence of observers and submit the proceedings to the court the ap olympic association is the highest sports body in the state which monitors various sports and games associations but with the entry of politicians since the late 70s it has over the years become highly politicised thanks to the increasing popularity of sports and media attention as well as the big bucks involved over the past decade or so several politicians have been vying for the top spot at the association sources said incidentally sources pointed out that till jayadev gallas name did not surface in the elections tdp mla from bheemili and hrd minister ganta srinivasa rao was showing interest in the post but on the condition that he be unanimously elected however when he realised that a fight was inevitable ganta pulled out of the contest sources added the telangana olympic association elections too seem to be headed the same way with ruling trs leaders energy minister g jagadish reddy as well as mahbubnagar mp p jitender reddy and special telangana representative in delhi s venugopal chary gearing up to cross swords in the elections to be held on april 19