Mani Shankar Aiyar imposes Commonwealth Games gag on himself

After going ballistic in his criticism of Commonwealth Games (CWG) organisers, Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar gagged himself on Thursday, saying he would now speak on the matter only after the Games are over on October 15.

“I will definitely comment on the various issues after the Games are over,” he said.

Earlier this week, Aiyar had said he would be very unhappy if the Games were to be successful. His argument that the Rs35,000 crore being spent on CWG preparations was a waste had received a strong reprisal from organising committee chairman and party colleague Suresh Kalmadi, who said Aiyar was being “irresponsible and anti-national”.

Congress said it would examine the context in which Aiyar made the controversial comments, but there were strong indications that he had been advised to keep off the subject.

Meanwhile, CWG has plunged into further controversy. The Central Vigilance Commission has said that 14 projects related to the Games were being probed by CBI.

This comes as yet another embarrassment for the ruling Congress.

“The successful hosting of the Games and corruption in projects are separate issues. We do not want that there should be anything that obstructs the successful organising of the Games. So far as these cases [of corruption] are concerned, the matter shall be looked into as per law,” party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.