Sonia: Guilty in Games scam will be punished

The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday made it clear that the government will not “spare no one” found to be involved in malpractices or corruption related to the Commonwealth Games.

Addressing a general body meeting of the Congress in Parliament, Mrs Gandhi said: “I trust that as soon as the Games are over, the government will look into allegations of malpractices and spare no one.”

She said: “The Games are now just a few weeks away. This is the time for all of us to come together and ensure their success... The success of the Games is that of our country — not of any party or any individual.”

Meanwhile, the government took strong note of the spate of corruption allegations levelled at the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee and decided to clip OC chairman Suresh Kalmadi’s wings by appointing 11 senior officials to oversee preparations for the Games.

Of the 10 officers, four are of the rank of additional secretary and the rest are joint secretaries. They are Subhodh Kumar (AS, telecom), S.R. Rao (AS, IT), R.C. Misra (AS, UD), Amarjeet Singh (executive director, health ministry), J.S. Deepak (JS, commerce), Rohit Nandan (JS, civil aviation), Shashi Shekar (OSD, Power Trading Corp.), Tara Dutt (JS, Cabinet Secretariat), Gopala Krishna (Sports Authority of India secretary) and Rajeev Kapur (JS, personnel and training).

Sports secretary Injeti Srinivas will look after accreditation and Rajeev Kapur will look after the Games Village.