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Has Sheila Dikshit’s proximity to Sonia Gandhi helped the Delhi chief minister wriggle out of the Commonwealth Games scandal and put the blame squarely on Suresh Kalmadi?

Although Dikshit said corruption lied in the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, Kalmadi, who is the panel’s chairman, retorted saying Dikshit should check corruption in her department first.

Kalmadi said, “We don’t want to be the scapegoat anymore. The Organising Committee is constantly being hauled up for the delays in construction when it was not involved in the works.”

Even the Central government seems to be riveting the spotlight on Kalmadi with regard to the corruption issue, excluding him from key Commonwealth Games meetings, which were attended by Dikshit.

So, should Dikshit own up (along with Kalmadi) and share the blame for the shoddy patch up of Delhi’s roads, incomplete flyover near the Commonwealth Games Village (Mayur Vihar Phase I), shooing away beggars and prohibiting Blueline buses to operate for two weeks forcing commuters to jostle for space in the few DTC buses.

Also, the area outside the Commonwealth Games Village was abysmal and the pavements in the vicinity (near the Yamuna bridge in ITO) were covered with banners to conceal the filth that lay beyond it.

Prime Minster Manmohan Singh, who is known for his clean image, has set up a probe within 24 hours of the Commonwealth Games by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Also, agencies such as the Central Vigilance Commission and the Income Tax department have started their independent scrutiny.

The Comptroller and Auditor General will start the audit work of Commonwealth Games Village from October 28 and probe allegations of financial irregularities.

The CAG will most likely audit the accounts of Delhi Development Authority and the expenditure incurred for constructing at the Commonwealth Games Village. It will also look into the alleged favours granted to a leading real estate group for various construction projects.

But will Sheila Dikshit be made to share the blame or can the Sonia connection help her come clean on the issue?

As if the embarrassment caused to India in the run up to the Commonwealth Games wasn’t enough, it has started harping on the idea of hosting the Olympics.

Even though India managed to salvage some pride by a truly spectacular show at the opening ceremony and somewhat smooth functioning of the Commonwealth Games, its claim to the Olympics is hardly valid, given the sloppy show in the world’s biggest sporting event.

Our country, although the second-most populous in the world, failed to produce a credible number of individual gold medalists in the Olympics ever with Abhinav Bindra being the only individual Gold medal winner from India!

Compare this to our neighbour China. During the Beijing Olympics held in 2008, China topped the Gold medals tally (51) trumping the US, which managed 36. So, even as China rightfully wanted to host to the Olympics on the ground that it has been one of the top performers, can India (which bagged only one Gold medal and two Bronze medals in the Beijing Olympics) do so only to ensure that it doesn't fall behind in the India vs China race.

Consider the issue of funds. If nearly Rs 70,000 crore was spent to fund the Commonwealth Games, a conservative estimate could put the funds requirement for the Olympics at Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore.

Even if half that amount is spent on training and welfare of our sportsmen, we could win medals big-time in the Olympics. Look at our athletes’ performance in the Commonwealth Games 2010. We have already won 14 Gold medals and are at number two in the pecking order just behind Australia on Day Five.

Now, if the government pursues its plan to host the Olympics, it would also be depriving its own people as money spent on their welfare will be diverted to give foreigners a five-star stay in India. Can the Indian government push ahead with its plan and leave the poor to rot?

Coming to some dismal stats. Of India’s one billion people, around 350-400 million are below the poverty line, 75 per cent of them being in rural areas. The illiterate comprises almost a whopping 40 per cent of the population and among the worst affected are women, tribals and scheduled castes.

So even if Delhi CM Shiela Dikshit bundles away the beggars in a shelter home before booting them out after the Commonwealth Games, it does not take this stark statistics away from us.

If we can bring about transparency in our government's funds allocation and pump in around Rs 1 lakh crore (which we assume will be half of what will be spent on an Olympics), the lives of at least one-third of our poor can change forever. Our politicians have already plundered the nation and hosting the Olympics would give them another big opportunity to do so.

Just about a month back, India was placed at an abysmal low in the World Competitive Index. India ranked 57th in wasteful expenditure by the government, 72nd in corruption, 95th in burden of government regulation, 127th in cost of terrorism and 67th cost to deal with crime, among others.

India managed 42nd place in transparency of government, 68th in reliability of public services and 76th in efficacy of corporate boards. However, in life expectancy India was at an abysmal 109th spot out of 139 nations, clearly indicating we’re still a backward nation.

To show the world that India has actually arrived, we have to first eradicate poverty and step up social welfare schemes on a war footing instead of trying to wrestle an Olympics bid. Only after we reap the benefits and move up the pecking order in global competitiveness, can we aspire to be elevated from a nation hosting the Commonwealth Games to a venue for the Olympics.

So, after Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi and Raja, will we see Dayanidhi Maran, who has just quit the Union Cabinet owing to his alleged involvement in the 2G scam, cooling his heels in jail, bearing the brunt of the DMK’s loss in the Tamil Nadu or TN assembly polls?

Well, apparently it seems the Congress is doing all it can to root out corruption.

First, it got rid of its junior minister for external affairs Shashi Tharoor over an alleged sweat equity granted to his wife Sunanda Pushkar by the Kochi team of the Indian Premier League.

Then, we saw Suresh Kalmadi being sacked as Commonwealth Games committee chairman over alleged wasteful expenditure of Rs 70,000 crore during the Games.

Then, Congress ally DMK’s Kanimozhi and Raja fell like nine pins, followed by Maran recently, who had to quit the Cabinet as textiles minister. Only Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit could untangle herself from the Commonwealth Games mess.

The Congress trying to purge its image ahead of the general elections in 2014 is only one side of the picture.

Well, with Jayalalithaa coming to power in Tamil Nadu, the Congress doesn’t find the DMK indispensible any more. The party knows that even if it displeases the DMK, it wouldn’t stand to lose in the medium term.

It also knows that the 2G taint could prove too costly and cost the DMK even the general elections in 2014 and, moreover, it is aware that Karunanidhi may not become chief minister ever again (considering he is 90 years old and his health is deteriorating).

The series of events could have had a different twist. But how?

Suppose the Tamil Nadu elections had thrown up some surprises and the DMK won the state polls with landslide victory and Karunanidhi became the chief minister again.

Then, it could have been a different story altogether. There wouldn’t be any prize for guessing that our parties go out of their way to ensure they have the requisite numbers in Parliament or state assembly so that they can form the government.

Cutting across party lines, we all know that there is rampant horse-trading where parties or politicians are given astronomical sums of money to team up with the main party. So, there could have been efforts from the main UPA ally to keep another ally, the DMK, in good humour (only if the party had clinched Tamil Nadu in the polls).

Now, had Karunanidhi become the Tamil Nadu CM, we probably would have seen a different scenario altogether: Kanimozhi (as usual) vehemently denying to the press allegations that she was in any way involved in the 2G scam, Raja going scot free with a plum posting at the DMK headquarters in Chennai (to keep him out of public spotlight) and Dayanidhi Maran carrying on his business as usual (as textiles minister).

So, can we infer that Raja, Kanimozhi and Maran are bearing the brunt of the DMK’s loss in the Tamil Nadu assembly polls, because now, even if the DMK is disgruntled, the Congress has an alternative of tying up with Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK and form the government after the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections?