Kalmadi's arrest is an eyewash: Nitin Gadkari

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The arrest of former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi was an 'eyewash', Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said here on Tuesday and demanded that all those in the 'Rs.70,000 crore scam' be nabbed.

"Kalmadi is a very small thing. He had a limited role of deciding the expenditure of just Rs.1,400 crore for the Commonwealth Games...Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must answer as to why only he (Kalmadi) was arrested when every file related to the CWG had signatures of a Group of Ministers (GoM), cabinet sub-committee, expenditure finance committee, Delhi chief minister and Prime Minister's Office (PMO)," Gadkari said.

"All those involved in the Rs.70,000 crore scam should be arrested," the BJP president said while addressing a 'Mahasangram' rally here.

"Kalmadi has been sent to jail, while others have been left free. It's mere eyewash. I challenge the Congressmen to prove me wrong...They can file a defamation suit against me if they believe I am making false statements. I am in possession of documentary proof to support my statements," said Gadkari.

Hitting out at the Congress-led central government for its 'wrong economic policies', Gadkari said that 'inflation, unemployment, corruption, poverty and other such problems' would continue in the country as long as the party was in power.

"The Congress party has also not taken any significant steps to curb terrorism," he alleged.

The BJP leader also attacked the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

"The BSP and the SP are the B team of the Congress party. The two parties just project that they oppose the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, but the fact is that they work in coordination in Delhi."

Kalmadi was arrested on Monday for alleged irregularities in the grant of contracts for the October 2010 Games. He was on Tuesday sent to eight days' police custody.