PM invited me for medal winners' felicitation, but I was busy: Kalmadi

Pushed to the wall but defiant nonetheless, Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi has claimed that contrary to reports, he was invited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the function to felicitate the CWG medal winners but could not go due to his "busy" schedule.

Kalmadi was not seen at the prime minister's function as well as at the felicitation ceremony for CWG medallists organised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, leading to speculation that he had been snubbed by his own party after the organising committee was accused of wide-scale corruption.

"Too much is being made out of that," Kalmadi told the CNN-IBN television channel. "I was busy seeing off the thousands of international athletes who had come for the Games. The chef de mission rang me to tell me that we have to attend a function at the PM's residence, but I told him that I cannot go because I was busy.

"I am not at all a persona non grata. I was seeing off athletes."

With the government ordering a probe into the expenses incurred on the Games, which were held from October 3 to 14, Kalmadi has his back to the wall, but he asserted that all of the committee's decisions were taken collectively by an executive board.

"I have not taken any decision on my own," he said.

"It's good that a probe has been ordered because the prime minister had committed this to Parliament and the public. We will give all the answers.

"I am not at all nervous. We have given great Games and we are ready to give the answers now."

Asked whether the findings of the inquiry would trigger a storm that might blow him away, Kalmadi said, "The storm was much earlier, but now that we have delivered a good Games, it's over."

Kalmadi again hit out at Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit for stating that the suspicion of corruption in the Games lay primarily on the organising committee.

"I have kept quiet all along because my interest was to deliver a good Games, but that should not be seen as a sign of weakness," he said. "Now that the Games are over, I shall speak out. I have already replied to Sheila Dikshit that set your own house in order before pointing fingers at us.

"She had a budget of Rs16,000 crore for construction-related work and I had nothing to do with it. My budget was Rs1,600 crore. I was not part of the construction work. She has to answer a lot for that.

"Everybody criticised me for the foot overbridge collapse [near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium] but that was not my business. The Delhi government and the public works department have to answer for that," Kalmadi added.

"When the prime minister has ordered a probe, she doesn't
have to say anything."

Kalmadi said that despite the messy build-up that brought India a lot of negative press worldwide, the country's Olympic dream is alive.

"The whole world feels we should hold the Olympics. International Olympic Committee chairman Jacques Rogge was impressed with the Commonwealth Games and wants India to host the Olympics. But we shall make an announcement only after the
cloud over the CWG is over.

"We will have to take the government into confidence. We are ready for it and definitely we will bid for the Olympics."