Former comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai Thursday said the then UPA government's decision to let party leader Suresh Kalmadi chair the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, rather than a minister accountable to the government, was "incorrect".
"It was in form and substance, both, incorrect," Rai said in an interview to TV news channel Times Now, alluding that government money was spent by a body that was not accountable to the government.
Rai further said that the prime minister's office ensured that Kalmadi controlled the games completely. "The PMO wrote to the sports ministry saying this will be the formulation of the committee. It was totally within Suresh Kalmadi to control the entire Commonwealth Games. And he did in fact control it entirely," Rai said.
He recalled the example of Asian Games (1982) when then minister Buta Singh was made the incharge. "We had the example of the Asian Games earlier. Buta Singh was then actually made incharge of the Asian Games and he was a sitting minister... Because a minister can be better accountable to parliament," Rai said. Asked whether then prime minister Manmohan Singh strengthened Kalmadi, Rai said: "Certainly so."
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