Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Organising Committee of Commonwealth Games 2010, has refused to step down despite controversies around the coming event.
"Post the event, if Mrs Gandhi or the Prime Minister or the Indian Olympic Association ask me to resign, I would. For now, I am not going to quit," he said addressing a press conference today.
Kalmadi also said that he was not going to take any 'moral responsibility' for the financial irregularities and procedural lapses that had been noticed in the run-up to the Games, to be held between October 3 and 14.On Mike Hooper's statement given to Business Standard regarding the participating countries showing concern over safety issues in the Commonwealth Games highlighted by the Central Vigilance Committee, Kalmadi said: "There is a concern. We are making sure that all mandatory clearances are being taken."
Darbari pleads innocence
T S Darbari, the joint director general of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee who is now in the eye of the storm over alleged irregularities in the preparation of the Games, has pleaded innocence and denied any involvement in irregularities of payments to AM Cars and Vans Hire and AM Films - the service providers for the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay functions in London in October last year.
