BJP questions PM, Sonia on Dikshit's 'defiance' of Shunglu report

"The chief minister and Delhi government have rejected the report even before they have read it. The prime minister and Sonia Gandhi owe an answer on open defiance of chief minister. Does it tell of Congress double-speak?" BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman asked here.

She said the committee headed by Shunglu, a former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), was appointed by the prime minister and has submitted its second and third report.

Sitharaman alleged that within hours of leaks through the media of observations of the panel's second and third reports, Dikshit trashed the report as "totally unfair, inconsistent and not based on facts".

She said the Delhi cabinet, at a meeting, alleged that the “report was a kind of insinuation against the government.”

Contending that the Shunglu Committee has held the Delhi government responsible for delaying the works leading to "collusive/partial bidding" and "manipulation of documents", Sitharaman demanded all cases related to CWG be brought under a single umbrella immediately and a time set for action.

She said cost of construction and purchase of equipment had hugely overshot initial estimates.

"The Planning Commission, ministry of urban development and the ministry of sports had approved the costs. Large builders had been kept out almost in a planned way, leading to collusive bidding. Who and on what basis were the cost overruns approved? The ministries have to come out clean on their role," she said.

Sitharaman said that action was selectively taken only against officials of the Prasar Bharti based on the first report of Shunglu panel, while action against Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi was inconsequential. "His (Kalmadi's) removal from the position of secretary to the Congress Parliamentary Party is no answer to the allegations against him," she said.