By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress Tuesday backed Sports Minister Ajay Maken’s statement blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA government for appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC) chief.
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari Tuesday said the “National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was responsible for setting up the procedure which led to election of Kalmadi as the OC chief”.
He added that the host city contract was structured so that any dispute was in jurisdiction of courts in England, hence if the UPA government tried to make a change, the case could have gone to the British courts.
“Then they would have said that we got the Commonwealth Games and the Congress is losing it,” he said.
The Congress’ claim was, however, rebutted by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, who in parliament blamed the government for modifying the bid document of the Games unilaterally and allowing backdoor entry to Kalmadi, while the sports minister was supposed to head the OC.