New Delhi:
The Delhi government has come out in defence of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. State Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely, speaking to the media, said Ms Dikshit's name was not directly mentioned anywhere in the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Commonwealth Games that was presented in the parliament on Friday. He said that the word corruption or scam has not been used anywhere in the report.
"We are not rejecting the CAG report," said Mr Lovely. "There is no indictment of the Chief Minister in the report. It has raised some basic queries which will be under scrutiny by the Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC)," he added.
Mr Lovely said that the CAG report has also acknowledged the improvement in Delhi's infrastructure. He pointed out that on page 427 the report states the improvement in Delhi through road signage process.
He said various government agencies like the Public Works Department (PWD), the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) were involved in the street lights and street-scaping projects preceding the Commonwealth Games, and these projects were not a responsibility of the Delhi Government alone. He said all decisions related to the Commonwealth Games development were taken by the Cabinet and not any one political head.
Earlier today, the BJP demanded the resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit after the CAG report said that Mrs Dikshit had cost the government hundreds of crores through mismanagement.
The CAG report, released late last week, has indicted the Delhi government for mismanagement of the Games and both the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Left have indicated that they will insist that regular proceedings in both Houses be suspended on Monday, to allow focus on this. (Read: CAG report blames Sheila for losses, PMO for endorsing Kalmadi)
The Delhi Chief Minister has refused to comment yet except to say on Friday that, "We can assure when the report goes to the PAC, whatever departments are asked to answer queries of the PAC, we will cooperate with them completely and fully."