In a rejoinder to the opposition cornering the government over prime minister Manmohan singh's role in the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as commonwealth games chairman, union sports minister Ajay Maken on Tuesday stated that the BJP-led NDA government, then at the centre, forced the centre's engagement with the games.

Maken tabled a 7-page report in the lok sabha though he could not read it out because of the ruckus. A letter dated May 24, 2003, written by the then sports minister Vikram Verma (NDA) which set the terms of the original bid document that facilitated Kalmadi's appointment.

The original bid document submitted on May 14, 2003 provided for a "government appointee" as the chairman of the executive board of the OC, with the Vice Chairman being the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) president." However, the bid document was inexplicably changed, deleting the words "government appointee" after Verma's letter to the Commonwealth authorities, Maken pointed.

He said the union government under NDA became a signatory to the host city contract that Delhi government signed on November 13, 2003 that stipulated that the organisation of the Games will be entrusted to the Commonwealth Games Association of the host country, "which in our case was the IOA." Accordingly, the IOA elected its president Kalmadi in November 2004 to be chairman of the OC and authorised him to finalise the OC in consultation with the other members of IOA.

In the process, Maken affirmed, the contract signed during the NDA regime committed the centre to all financial and infrastructural obligations and "in one stroke took away from the government of India any residual, amending or discretionary powers that could have been exercised in emergent situations to salvage the wrong doings."

The centre was left with no option but to finance the Games, Maken pointed out in an apparent reference to yet-to-be-officially-out CAG report criticising the PMO for making funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crores available to Kalmadi, giving him decisive powers to utilise them for the CWG.

Acknowledging receipt of the CAG report on the Games and Games-related expenditure, the minister said it will duly be presented in parliament. Congress spokesman Shakil Ahmed declined to comment until the CAG report is tabled in Parliament and ridiculed the BJP harping on the report not yet out officially while shutting eyes to the Karnataka lokayukt's report released officially last week indicting its government in the state.

Suggesting that the current PMO could do nothing regarding Kalmadi's appointment, Maken later told reporters, "There were two options. Either to scrap the Commonwealth Games or to go with the host city contract, which was signed by the NDA regime in November 2003. There was no third option."

In the lengthy suo moto statement, the minister also referred to the assurance given to the lok sabha during the monsoon session in 2010 to inquire irregularities and punish the guilty and pointed out that a high-level committee headed by V K Shunglu, a former CAG, was set up after the games to conduct a thorough probe. Based on its six reports, certain actions have already been taken by various authorities, including CBI, enforcement directorate, income tax department and the central vigilance commission.

The government on Tuesday sought to drag in the NDA regime in the Commonwealth games mess, saying it had bypassed the Delhi government and made the centre responsible for all financial and infrastructural obligations, which is against the norms

"The host city contract which was signed by the then secretary (Sports) and approved by the cabinet of the NDA government, should ideally have been signed and approved by the secretary, government of NCT of Delhi and approved by the cabinet and of GNCTD respectively, as is the practice with the other international sporting events, including the forthcoming London Olympics," sports minister Ajay Maken said.

Maken was making a suo motu statement in the Lok Sabha on the media leaks of the CAG report on Commonwealth games.

"By not doing so, the host city contract effectively became the host countrycontract," he said.

This led to the central government committing to all financial and infrastructural obligations vis-a-vis the games.

It, in one stroke, also took away from the government of India any "residual, amending or discretionary powers" that could have been exercised in emergent situations to salvage any wrong doings.

Maken alleged that the NDA government had also not scrutinised and thoroughly verified the contract and any viable alternative to the provisions were neither explored nor suggested.