New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Ajay Maken Tuesday said the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was responsible for installing Suresh Kalmadi as the chief of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief.
Maken said this in a suo moto statement in the Lok Sabha in response to a leaked government auditor’s report on the Commonwealth Games blaming the Prime Minister’s Office for putting Kalmadi at the helm of affairs.
Maken said the NDA government in 2003 had, in its bid document submitted to the Commonwealth Games Federation, vested the chairmanship of the CWG Organising Committee on Kalmadi.
He blamed the NDA government for revising the bid document to ensure that Kalmadi, the Indian Olympic Association president, became the head of the organising committee.
Maken also said the government was aware of the concerns over the ‘irregularities and wrongdoings’ during the Games, though the mega event was held successfully.
Hence, he said, the government was ‘committed’ to take action against all those found guilty in the cases that have been filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate.
