New Delhi, Oct. 19: His absence at the felicitation of the medal winning athletes raised lot of eyebrows, but Mr Suresh Kalmadi, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising
Committee, said on Tuesday that he was invited to attend the function at the Prime Minister’s residence but couldn’t attend since he was too busy seeing off foreign athletes.
Mr Kalmadi said that too much is being made out about his absence from both the functions, to felicitate Indian medal winners, hosted by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi.
“Too much is being made out of that. I was busy seeing off the thousands of international athletes who had come for the Games. The chef de mission rang me to tell that we have to attend a function at the Prime Minister’s residence but I told him that I cannot go because I was busy,” Mr Kalmadi told news channel.
“I am not at all a persona non grata. I was seeing off athletes,” said Mr Kalmadi.
Mr Kalmadi, however, said that it was good that the probe has started and the Organising Committee is ready to answer all questions.
“I have not taken any decision on my own. It’s good that a probe has been ordered because the Prime Minister had committed this to the Parliament and the public. We will give all the answers,” Mr Kalmadi added, justifying his stand.