BJP’s Arun Jaitley said the then sports minister Sunil Dutt and every officer of the PMO were against Kalmadi being made the OC chief.
NEW DELHI – A charged opposition pinned down the government on the CWG scam, quoting advice tendered by the Centre’s top legal officer and letters by two sports ministers to argue that the buck stopped with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
While the CPM’s Basudeb Acharia urged the PM to “own up” the CWG mess, BJP leaders Arun Jaitley and Yashwant Sinha countered the Congress’s claim that the NDA had facilitated jailed MP Suresh Kalmadi’s appointment as the Games OC chief. The heat in Parliament was a reflection of the action on the streets, where BJP supporters almost succeeded in gate-crashing through police barricades while protesting against the government. Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day at 5pm after leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj protested the police action.
In both Houses of Parliament, BJP leaders said if attorney general Goolam Vahanavati could opine in 2011 that Kalmadi could be sacked as OC chief as he was a government appointee cleared by a group of ministers on the advice of the PM, the appointment could very well have been annulled earlier.
Attacking sports minister Ajay Maken’s claim that the NDA’s decision to sign a host city contract stipulated that the Indian Olympic Association would form the OC, opposition leaders said it was standard protocol followed by a paragraph saying that agreements reached with the government would be honoured-including the appointment of a government nominee as chief organizer.
