NEW DELHI: Accusing the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of “monumental fraud” in appointing Suresh Kalmadi as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday said that political heads in the government had allowed creation “of a private fiefdom” and did not have the right to continue in their posts.
Initiating a short duration discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the statement of Sports Minister Ajay Maken on the CWG 2010, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said all the documents relating to appointment of Kalmadi as chief of organising committee should be placed on the table of the house.
“It will reveal the truth, which the government does not want,” Jaitley said.
Jaitley said Kalmadi had floated a private society and the country was entitled to know the truth.
“Was he a chairman in private capacity? If he was a government nominee, why was he allowed as a private society…the government lends shoulder to him,” he said.Jaitley said every contract awarded by the private body was overpriced.
“It is not only procedural improprieties. Compare it with facts. We were disgraced by reports that everything was overpriced,” he said, adding that the Central Bureau of Investigation was probing some cases.
Demanding political accountability for the lapses, Jaitley said “agencies will be accountable to whoever under law, but the political heads of government of Delhi and the government of India are responsbile to both houses of parliament”.
He said the government has not taken the house into confidence fully and has not been candid.
“The real truth is they saw a political ally and handed over the Games to him,” the BJP leader said.
He said that political heads of the government who were responsible for the “monumental fraud” do not have a right to continue in their posts.
Jaitley, who continued his speech in the post-lunch session following adjournments, said earlier that Maken’s statement had concealed more than it revealed.
Calling it a hurried statement, prompted by leaks to the media of parts of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on the CWG, Jaitley said an international sporting event was made into a massive scandal by the Congress-led government.(IANS)
