New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee or judicial probe into the irregularities in the Commonwealth Games slated for Oct 3-14, which could take place alongside the mega-sporting event.
Speaking during a discussion in the Delhi assembly, Leader of Opposition V.K. Malhotra said that the probe should be carried out alongside the games.
He also blamed Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit for the alleged misuse of funds for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, delays in the completion of projects and the last minute rush to meet deadlines resulting in violation of labour laws.
Malhotra later told reporters that the BJP is not for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the loopholes as the agency as lost its credibility.
Citing Bollywood actor Sunny Deol’s dialogue in the film ‘Damini’, he said that the Delhi government is acting like the court in giving dates after dates but not delivering justice.
‘Time and again Dikshit has claimed that Delhi will be a world class city post-games, but my question is that will those living in the slum clusters be able to taste the fruits of development,’ he said.
During the discussion, BJP’s Sahib Singh Chauhan asked what the Congress-led Delhi government was trying to hide by disallowing the media to visit the games site. He also claimed that only 70 percent of the work has been completed across the sites.
He alleged that there was rampant corruption in the managing of the games as the expenditure increased by almost 300 percent. ‘The central government, Organising Committee and the Delhi government made a mockery of the games,’ he said.
However, the ruling party’s Subhash Chopra criticised the BJP for not showing sportsmanship at a time when it is required the most. ‘They are playing with the pride of the nation,’ he said, and also asserted that all the projects the Delhi government took up for the games were finished within the allocated funds.
Meanwhile, Asif Mohammed, Bahujan Samaj Party member from Jamia Nagar, raised the issue of the sudden increase in the number of dengue cases in his constituency and asked for a satisfactory reply from Health Minister Kiran Walia.
However, when Speaker Yoganand Shastri said that the matter would be taken up later, Mohammed started shouting and was evicted.
The first of the five-day monsoon session of the Delhi assembly also witnessed clashes between Congress’ Naseeb Singh, who represents Vishwas Nagar, and Independent member Shoaib Iqbal, of Matia Mahal in old Delhi.
