The cold war between the Sports Ministry and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has escalated as the latter did not nominate any cricketer for the Arjuna Award.

According to reports, the Sports Ministry did not send the proforma applications and cicrular seeking names for Arjuna award, and important awards from the BCCI.

The ensuing result was that cricketers and cricket coaches failed to find mention in the list of nominees for the Arjuna or Droancharya award for the year 2011. The BCCI has reportedly blamed the ministry for failing to recommend names for the award.

However, a top ministry official stated on Thursday that all federations, including the BCCI, were intimated that they have to recommend sportspersons for the Arjuna Award before April 30.

Infact, the ministry reportedly issued a press release of the notification dated January 23, 2012, while BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale had also issued a clarification on the lines of what its chief administrative officer, Prof Ratnakar Shetty, had told a newspaper.

Jagdale told the newspaper that “We wish to clarify that unlike every year, the BCCI has not received any forms for nominating cricketers for the Arjuna and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Awards of the Government of India.”

He further added that “It has been the practice of the Sports Ministry to send the forms well in advance to the BCCI to nominate in the given format, which includes the players’ acceptance and the BCCI’s recommendation.”