Delayed action

The arrests of Lalit Bhanot and V K Verma, two key aides of Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi, in connection with the irregularities committed during the conduct of the Games were not unexpected. Kalmadi himself may be arrested in the coming days.

The CBI has charged the two with cheating and conspiracy in the award of a Rs 107 crore deal with a Swiss timing firm. It is likely that there will be other charges. Both the officials were removed from their positions after the Games and their premises were searched. Kalmadi’s residences have also been searched.

In spite of all this, there is a genuine impression that investigation is moving at a slow pace. The Games ended on October 14 but the raids on officials were conducted only in December and on Kalmadi still later. That has given rise to suspicions that they were being allowed to cover their tracks. There have even been reports that Kalmadi has shifted some papers abroad.

But the politician-cum-sports administrator is still defiant and has pointed his fingers at the others. The message may be a veiled  threat to the officials not to implicate him. Kalmadi’s argument that others are also equally involved in all decisions should be a lesson to all those who have to rubber stamp the decisions taken by powerful persons.

Every one knows that it was Kalmadi and his men who actually took all important decisions. But the idea of joint responsibility is being invoked when things have gone wrong.  In any case, the officials who were parties to the irregularities should also be made to account for their conduct. They are accomplices in the wrongful actions.

Kalmadi has demanded the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the irregularities. No one considers it a serious proposition. Kalmadi himself does not believe in it. That shows the insincerity and flippancy of the man.

The Congress party has started distancing itself from him but there is still no certainty that he would finally be brought to book. He might refuse to go away quietly. But if the government or the party shields him now or in future, the damage in the long term will be much more than what he can inflict in the immediate term.