Kalmadi meets Jaipal Reddy ahead of GoM meeting

NEW DELHI - Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi Sunday met Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy a day before the first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on the Games after they have concluded.

Reddy, who heads the GoM, said Kalmadi called on him over the meeting.

“There is a GoM meeting tomorrow (Monday). He met me in that regard. He also conveyed greetings on Dussehra,” Reddy told IANS.

According to official sources, the meeting is expected to look at the issues of government officers who are working with the Organising Committee.

They said that with the government instituting a committee to look at organisation and conduct of the Games in view of complaints received earlier of irregularities and delays, the GoM meeting is likely to take a call on the term of officers in the Organising Committee.

The GoM meeting will discuss about “officers staying back until things are closed down formally,” a source said.

Kalmadi’s meeting with Reddy comes after a virtual snub by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Kalmadi, who is also a Congress MP from Pune, was not called for functions to felicitate the Indian athletes who had won medals at the Games.

The prime minister had interacted with the medal winners Friday while Gandhi had called them to her residence Saturday.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had also said that the needle of suspicion regarding corruption allegations in Games pointed to the Organising Committee which had got a loan from the state government.

Kalmadi had come under fire in the run-up to the Games over allegations of delays and cost over-runs related to Games projects. The government had appointed senior officials to oversee the last phase of the preparations.

The prime minister Friday set up a high-level committee headed by former comptroller and auditor general V.K. Shunglu to look into all matters relating to the conduct and organisation of the games.