President Patil should declare Games open: Malhotra
By IANSThursday, September 30, 2010
Indo-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra Thursday demanded that President Pratibha Patil should declare the Commonwealth Games open Oct 3.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Malhotra, who is also vice president of the Indian Olympic Association, said the president has the supreme position in the protocol to be observed in any function in the country according to the Constitution.
\”I have come to know that in the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Prince Charles will declare the Games open after reading the Queen\’s message. After that the president of India will address and conclude by saying \’let the Games begin\’. If this procedure is followed then Prince Charles will have the precedent in protocol over the president of India,\” Malhotra said.
The BJP leader, also the president of the General Association of National Sports Federations (GANSF), said he raised the issue in the executive board of the organising committee and \”I was told that the government is looking into the
