The chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Suresh Kalmadi,who has been under constant scrutiny for the last few weeks for alleged financial irregularities in the Games panel,is likely to stay on till the mega event is over. Reports suggest that Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar will supervise as well as coordinate CWG preparations. The Congress top brass,which has been quiet so far on the issue,meets on Friday evening to discuss the possibility of setting up an oversight panel that will monitor preparations for the October event. Earlier in the week,the the government had shot down a proposal for an oversight panel but has been forced to do a rethink after the Opposition trained all guns at Suresh Kalmadi. Meanwhile,Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Friday said there was no need for Suresh Kalmadi to resign as CWG Organising Games Chairman since the CBI or the CVC has not filed any case against him relating to allegations of corruption in the event. "No case has been filed either by CBI or CVC against Kalmadi. There is no need for him to resign in the wake of allegations of corruption in CWG preparations," the Congress General Secretary said. Earlier,on August 10,Singh had said Kalmadi should resign if his name figures in a CBI case relating to charges of corruption in the event. On whether there will be any change in his stand if a case is filed against Kalmadi later,the Congress general secretary said he never changes his views on such issues. Only when a case is filed against Kalmadi,he should resign from his post on moral grounds," Singh said. He said BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola who is President of the Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association should resign as an FIR had been filed against him in connection with the Indore land scam. Meanwhile,the Congress,which has tried to eiderdown inside rumblings on whether Kalmadi has run the preparations as a 'pesonal show';.can no longer continue to be aloof. It would look,leaders said,that the party was not serious about the constant allegations that continue to tumble out of the CWG cupboard. The adverse publicity is not doing the government any good,they said. On Thursday,after being riled about the alleged corruption in CWG dealings,Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan had told the media that it was an autonomous body. (with agency inputs)
