PM pulls up Gill and Reddy for CWG mess

Agencies

New Delhi, 24 September 2010: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pulled up Union Sports Minister MS Gill and Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy on Friday during a Cabinet meeting in New Delhi for the delay in the preparation for Commonwealth Games. During the meeting Singh sent a strong message to Gill that it was not the time to talk but to act and then castigated Reddy for the sloppy work at the Games venues.

 

"Forum of the Cabinet is not required to discuss Commonwealth Games. The matter was discussed yesterday," Singh told Gill when he expressed his desire to give a presentation on Commonwealth Games at the Cabinet meeting. The Prime Minister also stopped Gill from making the presentation at the Cabinet meeting and asked him to behave like a Sports Minister. He then criticised Reddy for sloppy work at the stadia, Games Village, cleanliness and the fall of foot overbridge near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

 

 

Sources said that he was also upset about the lack of coordination between ministries and agencies working on Commonwealth Games related work. He told the ministers that the time to blame each other was over. He reportedly told them that it was now one country, one games, one government and that time was now running out, sources said.

 

Singh had met Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy and Gill at his residence on Thursday and discussed the Commonwealth Games preparations. Besides the two Cabinet ministers, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Delhi Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Union Home Secretary GK Pillai also attended the meeting.

 

He had pulled up Gill, Reddy and Sheila during Thursday’s meeting too. He said that says passing the buck was not right and India’s image was being tarnished by the Commonwealth Games mess. He added that Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi was not the only person to be blamed for the state of affairs and warned that action would be taken against those found not doing enough.