Time might be running out for Congress MP and CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi, who was snubbed by both President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday.
Mr Kalmadi, who had been making appearances every time India won a medal at the recently-held Asian Games in China, was not invited by the President or the PM to felicitation functions for the medal-winners.
Sources, meanwhile, disclosed that the investigating agencies are preparing to swoop on Mr Kalmadi immediately after the Parliament session gets over on December 13. Mr Kalmadi, who is in Pune for the Asian Marathon to be held on Sunday, said “all transactions related to the marathon will be transparent”.
Both the Prime Minister and the President on Saturday felicitated the Asian Games medallists at separate functions. Though the authorities concerned, including sports minister M.S. Gill and Sports Authority of India director-general Sayan Chatterjee were present at the President’s function, Mr Kalmadi remained uninvited.
Politically, Mr Kalmadi has also been sidelined as he has been kept out of the most crucial meetings of the AICC. However, the three-time MP from Pune is hopeful of getting a party ticket during the 2014 general elections. “Nothing can be said for sure at this juncture. First let’s see what happens in the CWG probe,” said a senior Congress functionary.
Though the CBI has not named him in its three FIRs, his aides in the OC, like T.S. Darbari, have pointed fingers at him. The OC secretary-general, Lalit Bhanot, and director-general V.K. Verma, who are also being probed, have indicated that “they were not the last word”.
Sources disclosed that the Congress high command has also distanced itself from the CWG OC chief and is in no mood to “come to his rescue if Kalmadi is charged by the CBI”, the Congress functionary indicated.
The Prime Minister, at a separate function, felicitated the medal-winners. Among the medallists present at the function at 7, Race Course Road were the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles winners, rowing gold medallist Bajrang Lal Takhar and men’s double trap shooter Ranjan Sodhi. Earlier on Saturday, the President met the athletes in the Yellow Drawing Room and handed each of them a rose.