Raids on Kalmadi an eyewash, go after his masters: Nitin Gadkari

BJP today said that the raids on the Commonwealth Games (CWG) organising committee chief Suresh Kalmadi's premises are an "eyewash" and demanded that others "including those in the PMO" should be probed in connection with alleged irregularities in Games projects.

"Kalmadi is a symbol of corruption. Taking action against him is welcome. But he should not be made a scapegoat. His masters who took the decisions and sanctioned the funds should also be punished," BJP President Nitin Gadkari told reporters here.

He named the prime minister's office, the Cabinet, Cabinet sub-committee, Group of Ministers dealing with the CWG issues, expenditure committee, among others as those who were involved in the preparations for the mega event and said they should all be probed.

"The Jawaharlal Nehru stadium could have been renovated at a cost of Rs100 crore but Rs980 crore was spent on it. Spending Rs70,000 crore on the event was sheer waste of money. This is nothing less than a loot. 50% of the people in this country earn less than Rs20 per day," Gadkari said.

Asked about the prime minister, whose resignation was demanded by the BJP at its rally against corruption in New Delhi on December 22, Gadkari said, "Directly or indirectly" the permission for CWG projects and even the 2G spectrum allocation came from his office.

"Action against A Raja (former telecom minister) and Kalmadi is an eyewash. Action against them is not enough. A letter written by Raja to the PM which has been published in newspapers shows the latter's permission was taken," Gadkari said.

Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy earlier said, "The raids are too little, too late. This is what the BJP thinks on the development".

Party chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said BJP is "not very happy with this delayed raid, but would certainly expect a prompt, fair investigation and nabbing of the culprit as promised by the prime minister."

"Why so much of a delay, why so much of documents being allowed to be misplaced deliberately. I think this explanation is required....so much delay in raiding the premises of Kalmadi, who almost became a disgrace for the country. It is a very sorry state of affairs," he said, adding "None of the guilty should be spared including those who have given quick approval to the loot of public money".