Kalmadi gives new twist to Commonwealth saga

Seeking to rubbish the charge of overspending, chairman Suresh Kalmadi claimed on Tuesday that the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee (OC) in fact saved money on the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) launch in London last year.

Ahead of a debate on CWG in parliament, he shot off letters to all Congress MPs, obviously aimed at reaching out to party chief Sonia Gandhi, denying any financial irregularity. Kalmadi said OC had an approved budget of Rs13.13 crore for the launch, but it spent only Rs5.75 crore.

He said: “We had planned an elaborate function, but to cut costs we scaled down the size of the function and decided to engage only local artists rather than fly them from India. We floated a global tender for the programme and appointed Jack Morton Worldwide event managers for the launch.”

Kalmadi, a Congress MP from Pune, said he was open to scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) or any judicial inquiry.

He said OC resisted a London Police demand for installing video screens for crowd control at launch venue.

The Indian Olympic Association chief also denied entering into a contract with AM Cars and Vans for the launch function held at Buckingham Palace.