Kalmadi writes to Congress MPs, says open to scrutiny

The letter came even as powerful All India Congress Comittee general secretary Digvijay Singh said Kalmadi should resign on moral grounds if CBI comes up with any evidence on the alleged irregularities and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar virtually called for his sacking.

Kalmadi in his letter said he was open to a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) probe or judicial scrutiny into the allegations.

The Pune MP, at an awkward position of seeing his party distancing itself from him in the controversy, said in his letter that while the CWG executive board had approved Rs 13.13 crore for the October 2009 rally in London, the OC spent only Rs 5.75 crore.
Kalmadi also mentioned 14 points in his defence, and said he was unaware of any contract signed between the controversial AM Films and Sanjay Mahendroo, the suspended deputy director general of the Organising Committee.

“We had scaled down the size of (Queen’s Baton Rally) function because of cost cuts and had floated global tenders and appointed MS Jack Morton Worldwide as event managers. Video screens were installed on the insistence of London police. Sanjay Mahendroo gave me a handwritten note in which he had mentioned that video screens were required and a payment of Rs 1.2 crore was needed for the installation. The payment was released only after due consultations with all concerned,” he said in the letter.

However, despite the letter, Kalmadi’s woes could only increase with Singh saying in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh: “The Central Vigilance Commission has handed over a case to the CBI. Prima facie, if there is indeed a case against Kalmadi, then he should resign on moral grounds.”

Aiyar, who has been an acerbic critic of the huge spending on the CWG, went a step further, just stopping short of calling for Kalmadi’s sacking, as he said: “Hosting a clean Games should be the priority with less than two months to go for the event. No one is indispensable and we should give clean Games to the world.”