New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi discussed the growing controversy over the Commonwealth Games at the Congress core group meeting on Friday.
In the meeting, the core group decided to leave it to the government to take a decision on the issue. The Prime Minister will discuss the Games with the Sports Minister and the Sports Ministry will take all decisions on Games' supervisory body and Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, it was decided.
Sources have now said that Kalmadi will stay on as chief of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee. The Sports Ministry will announce Games supervisory panel soon, the said.
The core group also discussed other subjects relating to nuclear liability bill and other parliamentary matters.
Amid growing controversy over the Commonwealth Games and corruption allegations against Organising Committee Chairman, Suresh Kalmadi, and other officials, the Cabinet Secretary too chaired a meeting with all top ministries concerned today.
This comes a day after NDTV reported that the Congress is considering an oversight group, an indication that Kalmadi's wings may be clipped.
The Congress party has been looking to distance itself from Suresh Kalmadi, the man at the centre of the allegations of corruption in the Commonwealth Games. Kalmadi, who is the chairman of the CWG Organising Committee, is also a Congress MP from Pune.
The party has said that it holds no brief for Mr Kalmadi. And NDTV reported yesterday that the party is discussing a supervisory committee for the Commonwealth Games. Such a committee could be headed by the Cabinet Secretary. A similar mechanism was in place when India hosted the 1982 Asian Games.