Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had shot off an angry letter to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh last year over the Commonwealth Games scam. NDTV has access to the letter, dated March 28, 2011, in which Ms Dikshit makes an angry defence in the case, slamming the report of the Shunglu Committee which probed alleged irregularities in organising the event.
“Committee report has caused damage to the government and my image,” said Ms Dikshit. She also wrote that the “Committee failed to appreciate the need for consultations”, and that “Direct insinuations were deliberate, mischievous and defamatory.”
In the letter, the Delhi chief minister also seems to be blaming the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram for lack of coordination that led to delays in completing the projects and hence, inflating costs.
“Project implementing ministries complained of delays in getting financial clearances,” states the letter, written soon after the Shunglu Committee report was made public.
The Commonwealth Games scam has put Sheila Dikshit’s government in the dock with a court in Delhi asking the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against the chief minister on a petition filed by RTI activist Vivek Garg, who submitted copies of two letters from Ms Dikshit to the Prime Minister.
The petition filed against the chief minister squarely blames her for inflating costs and cites several letters written by her to the Prime Minister as evidence. The plea will come up for hearing on February 23.
The Commonwealth Games were seeped in controversy and the event made international headlines for poor organisation and project delays. Charges of corruption in the award of contracts and purchase of equipment led to the arrest of CWG Organising Committee head Suresh Kalmadi and his top aides.
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