SHAHJAHANPUR/NEW DELHI, AUG 10
Already under attack from the Opposition, CWG Organising Games Chairman Suresh Kalmadi on Tuesday faced pressure from within the Congress with party leaders saying he should step down if his name figures in a CBI case relating to allegations of corruption in the event.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said Kalmadi should resign if his name figures in a CBI inquiry.
“If his name is there prima facie in a CBI case, then on moral grounds he should resign,” he told reporters in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh and demanded an inquiry by the central investigation agency.
“I don’t know whether there are charges… I am not demanding his resignation,” he said.
While Kalmadi has been attacked by the Opposition which has alleged corruption in various deals relating to the Games, two officials, since suspended and removed, have been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate. There is no CBI case as of now in the development.
Singh, who is the party in-charge of UP, is the second Congressman to speak on the raging controversy after Rajya Sabha MP Mani Shankar Aiyar’s adverse comments on the holding of the Games.
Apparently targeting Kalmadi, Aiyar, a strong critic of the CWG, said that no one is indispensable and hosting “clean” Games should be the priority with less than two months to go for the event.
“No one is indispensable and we should give clean Games to the world,” Aiyar told reporters outside Parliament.
Aiyar had recently created a furore by saying that he would be unhappy if the CWG were a success and that only “evil” would support such an event.
Kalmadi had shot back immediately, calling Aiyar’s remark as “irresponsible and anti-national”.
The Games have been rocked by controversies, including alleged corruption charges against top OC officials and shoddy construction work at the venues.
Aiyar had also said his outburst against the Commonwealth Games has opened up “a can of worms” which was evident from the corruption allegations that have rocked the October 3-14 sporting extravaganza.
In Shahjahanpur, Singh said an inquiry was already on and if Kalmadi is found guilty, then resignation should be the logical outcome.
He said he was against a “media trial” on the corruption charges surrounding the Games.
One should not jump to any conclusion but await the result of the inquiry, the Congress leader said.
Congress, however, steered clear of the remarks of Digvijay Singh questioning the continuance of Suresh Kalmadi in the Games Organising Committee.
“Digvijay Singh might have given some advice. If at all somebody has to respond, it is Suresh Kalmadi,” party spokesman Manish Tewari told reporters here when asked if the party approved Singh’s statement.
Tewari said that Kalmadi is not the representative of Congress in the Organising Committee or the Indian Olympic Association and was there due to an elective process.
“If he (Kalmadi) is to be held accountable, it is for the Executive Board of the OC or for the members of the IOA to decide,” the spokesman said.
