CWG 2010 chief Kalmadi accused of corruption

The infighting in the 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee on Tuesday took a more acrimonious turn with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vijay Goel accusing chairman Suresh Kalmadi of "rampant corruption" and seeking Prime Minister's intervention in the matter.

Goel, who claims to be have been expelled from the Organising Committee (OC), launched a scathing attack on Kalmadi, alleging that he has an "autocratic and arrogant style of working" and one who cannot take criticism in the right spirit.

The BJP leader, who had on Monday circulated an e-mail about his purported expulsion, sought to blow up the issue further by formally calling a press conference were he spoke about Kalmadi's alleged misdeeds.

Kalmadi, was however, not available for comments and repeated calls to his office went unanswered.

A top OC official described Goel's outburst as baseless and said Kalmadi will come out with a formal rejoinder on Wednesday.

"In the name of organising the Commonwealth Games Kalmadi is engaging in corruption, there is no accountability as how the money is spent. The budget has quadrupled in the last few years and there is no transparency," Goel said.

Goel had claimed on Monday that Kalmadi decided to expel him after a heated exchange when he tried to raise the issue of delay in Commonwealth Games preparation and accountability during the Annual General Body meeting of the OC in New Delhi.

"Kalmadi is a short-tempered man and if he can fight with Mike Fennell and Mike Hooper then he can fight with me also. He should keep in mind that he has to give hospitality to lakhs of people and he can't effort to be so intolerant.

"I don't have any personal enmity with him, my fight is against corruption, mismanagement and delay in preparation. I will write to Prime Minister [Manmohan Singh] so that he can intervene and give a white paper and discipline Kalmadi for the Commonwealth Games. I will also meet [Sports Minister] MS Gill and if required will write to CGF president Mike Fennell," Goel said.

Asked if he was given any letter of expulsion, Goel said, "Kalmadi didn't give me any letter but he spontaneously told me that he is expelling me from the organising committee and I would get the letter later on. Are we member of OC or are we rubber stamp?"

Asked if he would challenge his expulsion from the OC, Goel tried to dodge the issue.

"My aim is not to fight with him. To be frank, I am not interested to get into the issue of my expulsion and moreover the OC was registered as a society so there must be a set procedure.

"I haven't read the procedure as I am not going to challenge my expulsion. I think I can do better job staying outside then be a mere puppet in the committee," he said.

Photograph: Reuters