Kalmadi puts up a brave front

However, he later made it clear that he would quit only if asked by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

“My first priority is to make the Commonwealth Games a success. I will not run away from responsibility, but would quit after the event if anything is found against me,” said Kalmadi.

Kalmadi’s statement came on a day when there was pandemonium in the Lok Sabha over charges of corruption in CWG. “If my leaders and Indian Olympic Association does not want me there, then I am ready to quit. But I tell you there is no wrong. Let the inquiry report come out. There is nothing to be ashamed of,” he added.

Defending himself and his team, Kalmadi claimed: “We are doing a great job” as he unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medal for the Games. Organising Committee (OC), he added, has ordered a total of 1,408 medals costing over Rs 81 lakh.

After unveiling the medals, Kalmadi hoped that India would better its performance at the Games and win over 70 medals.

Asked about the irregularities, Kalmadi said action would be taken against all those found guilty. The OC had on Thursday suspended T S Darbari and Sanjay Mahendroo following the report of the three-member panel which was probing the financial irregularities related to the Queen’s Baton Relay.

The names of Darbari, who was the joint director in the organising committee, and Mahendroo, who was deputy director general, had figured in the investigations into alleged irregularities into services provided during the Relay in London. Jayachandran, Officer on Special Duty for revenue and sponsorship, was also removed.

Misled by e-mails
Responding to queries on the “doctored” e-mails from the Indian High Commission he made public to justify payments worth lakhs of pounds to a United Kingdom-based company for services provided during the London programme, Suresh Kalmadi said he did not know whether the mails were authentic.

“I asked Darbari to show me the e-mails and he showed me those e-mails. It could be that I was misled. I am not a technocrat to know if they were genuine. The (probe) committee will look into all this and tell,” he said.

“The Ministry gave me a different e-mail. I said I am not a technological expert. They didn’t mention doctored or forged. They just said one line is different. Whether they were forged, we would know only after the inquiry,” Kalmadi said.