Mumbai/New Delhi: The Opposition BJP and
the CPI-M on Monday said the arrest of Suresh Kalmadi, the sacked
CWG organising Committee chief, was "belated" and only the
"tip of the iceberg".
The two opposition parties wanted investigating
agencies to take stringent action against others involved
in the Commonwealth Games scam.
"This (arrest) is only the tip of the iceberg, " BJP
president Nitin Gadkari told reporters at Maharashtra BJP
office in Mumbai.
"Kalmadi is not the only one. Others have not been
arrested. CBI should take stringent action against those
involved in the Commonwealth Games scam," he said.
Echoing Gadkari`s sentiments, Senior CPI-M leader
Brinda Karat said the "belated action" of Kalmadi`s arrest
hardly brought any confidence and that it was "only the tip of
an iceberg".
Karat, who is in Kolkata, said the Shunglu Committee
and the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had in their
reports "implicated the Delhi governments and some departments
under central ministers".
"Therefore, the huge CWG scam is yet another piece of
evidence about the corruption which has proliferated under the
Manmohan Singh government. The fact that the action is so
belated hardly brings any confidence," she said.
The action required now should really be in the
aspects which have been pointed out by the Shunglu panel and
the CAG, Karat said, adding that investigations should not be
limited to "just in one case, when thousands of crore of
rupees is involved. Action should be taken against all those
named in the Shunglu report and questions raised by the CAG".
The CPI(M) Politburo came out with a statement calling
Kalmadi`s arrest "belated" and "much delayed" and demanded
that the CBI take steps to lodge cases and prosecute others
responsible for the irregularities.
Maintaining that the arrest of the Congress leader
"for corruption" associated with the games was welcome though
it was "much delayed", the party said the CBI should forthwith
register cases and prosecute "those who were responsible for
the expropriation of public funds".
"Apart from the instances of corruption indulged in by
the organising committee of the CWG, there is large scale
misuse of funds for the games by other agencies and
authorities in the Delhi Government and the Central
Government. Some of these have been enquired into by the
Shunglu Committee," it added.
PTI
