Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday demanded an investigation by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into financial irregularities in conducting the just-concluded Commonwealth Games.
Terming the Commonwealth Games as a “very big scam”, BJP President Nitin Gadkari said the investigation should include all agencies of the Centre as well as of Delhi Government.
“Benami financial deals took place in CWG projects through the Mauritius route,” Gadkari told reporters here. He said the JPC was needed to "uncover the involvement of the political leadership".
Out of the Rs 70,000 crore spent on the Games, only Rs 350 crore were spent on Indian sportspersons, Gadkari said.
Claiming that the corruption “started at the top”, Gadkari squarely blamed the Congress party, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet for corruption allegations in the Games.
Gadkari questioned why the PMO and Union Cabinet did not verify before approving the "inflated budget" of various Games projects.
“Cost escalations of various CWG projects were approved by Cabinet and PMO. The whole Cabinet is responsible for the chaos and corruption in CWG,” Gadkari said.
Interestingly, Gadkari’s comments came hours after Income Tax sleuths raided the residence and office of BJP activist Sudhanshu Mittal.
Gadkari had earlier threatened to expose corruption within the government in the Commonwealth Games. He said the CBI should also investigate the corruption charges and submit its report within three months.
The BJP chief claimed his party had documents to prove involvement of political leaders in the Games "scam" and the party would submit them to a JPC.
"Peoples' money was looted in the name of the Games and strict action must be taken against those involved in the scam. It is a very serious issue and the party will take the issue to the people," he said.
Meanwhile, reacting to the charges by Gadkari, Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari said the BJP President was “threatened” at the prospect of investigation as a large number of BJP leaders were under the scanner.
Gadkari dragged in the PM's office into the CWG mess, accusing it of allowing cost over-runs. He claimed crores made from the Commonwealth Games have been diverted to Swiss banks.
“The BJP president is acting like a spoilt child who goes to any extent to get some attention,” Tiwari said.
Reinforcing the gag order by the Congress high command, Tiwari said all comments should be made before the probe panel.
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