NEW DELHI, Oct 19 (PTI): Pushed to the wall but defiant nonetheless, Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi has claimed that contrary to reports, he was invited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the felicitation function for CWG medal winners but could not go due to his �busy� schedule.
Kalmadi was not seen at the PM�s function as well as the felicitation ceremony for CWG medallists organised by Congress President Sonia Gandhi leading to speculation that he had been snubbed by his own party after the OC was accused of widescale corruption.
�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 PM�s residence but I told him that I cannot go because I was busy,� Kalmadi told CNN-IBN.
�I am not at all a persona non grata. I was seeing off athletes,� he insisted.
With the government ordering a probe into the October 3 to 14 Games� expenses, Kalmadi has his back against the wall but he asserted that all of OC�s decisions were taken collectively by an executive board.
�I have not taken any decision on my own,� he said.
�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.
�I am not at all nervous. We have given great Games and we are ready to give the answers now,� he added.
Asked whether the findings of the inquiry would trigger a storm that might blow him away, Kalmadi said, �The storm was much earlier but now that we have delivered a good Games, it�s over.�
