Suresh Kalmadi today ruled out stepping down as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman in the wake of corruption allegations but said he would quit if asked to by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi.
Suresh Kalmadi today ruled out stepping down as Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman in the wake of corruption allegations but said he would quit if asked to by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Sonia Gandhi.
He said his first priority was to make a success of the Games and "will not run away from responsibility" but would quit after the event if anything was found against him.
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"If my leaders and IOA don't want me there, then I am ready to quit. If there is something so big that I have done wrong. But I tell you there is no wrong. Let the inquiry report come out. There is nothing to be ashamed of," Kalmadi told 'Times Now'.
He was asked if he would step down now in the wake of a spate of allegations of corruption in giving contracts and Kalmadi said instead of stepping aside, he would take action against those who are found guilty.
"If some action is (found to be) wrong, then definitely I will not spare anyone who is responsible for it...There is no charge against me, it is against somebody else," he said.
Quizzed about the 'doctored' e-mails from the Indian High Commission he made public to justify payments worth lakhs of pounds to a UK-based company for services provided during the Queen's Baton Relay in London, Kalmadi said he did not know whether the mails were authentic. Organising Committee's Joint Director General T S Darbari, who oversaw the QBR's London leg, was suspended after the furore and the IOA chief said there is a possibility that he was misled by his close aide.
A three-member probe panel is currently investigating the matter after the Ministry of External Affairs revealed that the e-mails were 'doctored' to add the UK-based A M Films name as a recommened company for car rentals and other services.
"I asked Darbari to show me the e-mails and he showed me those e-mails. It could be that I was misled. I am not a technocrat to know if they were genuine. The (probe) committee will look into all this and tell," he said. "The Ministry gave me a different e-mail. I said I am not a technological expert. They didn't mention doctored or forged. They just said one line is different. Whether they were forged, we would know only after the inquiry," Kalmadi said.
Kalmadi, nonetheless, defended Darbari insisting that the tainted official had worked well while in office.
"Darbari has a lot of business to take care of but he has done his job. He is an efficient officer. He has been very helpful," he said.
"I trust all my officials. I have got 2,000 people working for me and I trust all of them. It was a tough decision to suspend," he said.
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