Mystery behind Kalmadi's appointment as OC chief

So how did Suresh Kalmadi become the chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Commonwealth Games 2010? And how did he end up becoming the face of the Games?

If the official bid submitted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) in 2003 is anything to go by, then Kalmadi should have only been the vice chairman of the Organizing Committee.

"Should your bid to host the Commonwealth Games be successful how would the Organizing Committee be structured? Please include an organizational chart including details of the proposed relationship with the CGF and CGA," said the bid outline issued by the CGF.

In response, IOA wrote that the OC would be a non-profit, government-owned registered society. It claimed the support of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who has "pledged his and his government's full fledged support to Delhi's bid". Also offering support was Sonia Gandhi, the then opposition leader. The IOA said it also had an MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to support its bid.

It added that the executive board of the OC will be headed by a chairman who will be a government nominee. Three members of Commonwealth Games Federation as per Clause 31 of Protocol 2 will be a part of the Board, the New Delhi bid said. In the accompanying chart, the IOA president, Kalmadi, is shown as the vice-chairman of the OC. The evaluation report of the CGF of the bid too reported the same.

However, after the NDA government stepped down and the Manmohan Singh-led UPA came to power, there seems to have been change of stance. It is not clear if it was a political decision or a bureaucratic manoeuvring. And when the OC was finally set up on February 10, 2005, Kalmadi became the chairman.

Now that Kalmadi's image has become somewhat of a liability and there's occasional talk of replacing him, Kalmadi's standard response is that his appointment is mandated by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and ratified by the CGF and hence he cannot be replaced. But that isn't quite the case.

Since the chairman of the OC, according to the bid document, is a government nominee, the government surely can fill in the slot with a nominee of its choice. Vikram Verma, the sports minister under Vajpayee, says he is shocked by the change in the final status of the OC. He claims he is convinced that the bid had been tampered with. He called for an inquiry into the entire incident.

Dismissing the allegations, Kalmadi told TOI, "The bid document that you mention was later revised. I was elected by the general assembly of the Indian Olympic Association as the chairman of the OC. It is the Olympic body which always decides. This name was also endorsed by the group of ministers (GoM)." When asked whether the revised document was finally endorsed in 2003, Kalmadi said "yes". However, there is no revised document on the official website, only the old one, according to which Kalmadi should be the vice chairman.

Kalmadi said, "Even in 1982 during the Asian Games, V K Malhotra was first named chairman by IOA. He was then removed and V C Shukla was appointed. And then again, Buta Singh became the OC chairman. These decisions were taken by IOA."

Asked why the bid document mentions that the chairman would be a government nominee, Kalmadi said, "I don't know why it was done and who did it. The BJP government was in power. Yes, it was revised later... the error was corrected."