With God on his side; Gill promises successful Games

Notwithstanding the huge controversy surrounding the rampant corruption in the Commonwealth Games 2010, Sports Minister MS Gill appeared confident of successfully holding the mega event.

In his reply to the Rajya Sabha Thursday, Gill did not risk a direct reply on the corruption charges, instead he apperead to be dodging an array of questions put up by the legislators.

He skillfully refused to set up an independent probe into the corruption allegations, while promising to punish of all those “found” guilty.

"Have faith in India. India will get there," Gill told opposition members led by Prakash Javdekar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Brinda Karat of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) who raised the issue of delays and corrupt deals related to the CWG.

“If officials are found guilty, remove them,” Gill said. He opined that an independent probe into the allegations at this this juncture would be detrimental to the objective of holding a successful Delhi games as they just around the corner.

On being given details of all the allegations, he said, “There is a long procedure into the sanctioning of any expenditure for the event and it has been done with consent from all the concerned departments like the Finance Ministry and the Home Ministry.”

He also ruled out any bid for Asiad 2019 saying that the government did not have the proper documentation in the time frame given.

When he was pressed to give assurance that the Delhi Games would be a success and the venues would be completed in time, he left everything to the almighty saying, “God is with me, I will do what is needed for a successful Games.”