LUCKNOW, June 16 -- Just 10 months after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) organised a friendly football match between Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal FC, which was held at KD Singh Babu Stadium here and touted to promote the game in Uttar Pradesh, the Federation's efforts seem to have lost steam. Its state body, the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh (UPFS), has purportedly resorted to promoting anti-AIFF activities by promoting parallel leagues, meaning the tournaments that are not backed by the Federation, in several districts of the state. As soon as UPFS-linked Lucknow Football Association announced the commencement of its annual district league, which has been a regular affair for the last 25 years or so, UPFS allegedly granted permission to a similar league in Lucknow. "AIFF must break its ties with UPFS for anti-AIFF activities with immediate effect as granting permission to parallel leagues in Uttar Pradesh is a serious violation of AIFF's policies," said an AIFF functionary on the condition of anonymity on Sunday. Also, UPFS has been accused of pushing players from other states to play for Uttar Pradesh in national championships and also those who belong to a particular community and area. "Do we have good players only in Varanasi? What about talents from other districts of Uttar Pradesh? Why are only the players of a particular community getting selected for the national championships?" said a former Santosh Trophy footballer. "UPFS is tarnishing the hopes of talented players and AIFF, who want to see the game flourish in the state," he added. He also said UPFS was creating problems in granting affiliations to some football academies in the state. "UPFS asks people for extra money, in contrast to AIFF's guidelines, for conducting coaches' training programme and other activities," he said. "UPFS has become somewhat of a personal property of some people in Varanasi," he alleged. Meanwhile, AIFF chief Kalyan Chaubey promised that he would investigate why UPFS was promoting parallel leagues. "I have been told about the issue of parallel leagues and, for sure, I will discuss it with the people concerned," Chaubey said on Sunday. On the issue of a different constitution of UPFS, Chaubey said the upcoming Sports Code will bring uniformity to the constitutions of all sporting federations in the country. "All sporting bodies will be required to follow one rule as it will be mandatory in the Sports Code, which is likely to be tabled in the next Parliament session," said Chaubey. UPFS vice-president Pushkar Sharma has also promised to look into the matter. Secretary Shahid Ahmed couldn't be reached for a comment despite repeated phone calls from this reporter....