Syed Shahnawaz Hussain at the news meet in Patna. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, April 25: Emboldened by the reported arrest of former Union minister Suresh Kalmadi in connection with the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, the BJP today demanded action against Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit for her alleged involvement in the scam.

Raising this demand during an interaction with reporters here, BJP MP from Bhagalpur and party national spokesperson Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said: “Action should be taken against everyone, including Delhi chief minister, whose name figure in the report of Shunglu committee.”

The V.K. Shunglu committee was set up by the Prime Minister to look into the irregularities committed while organising the CWG held in 2010 that was hosted by India. Kalmadi, who was the chairman of the games’ organising committee, was removed from the post in January this year following allegations of his involvement in the scam.

Terming Kalmadi’s reported arrest as a decision taken very late and under pressure, the BJP leader also linked its timing with the Assembly elections being held in five states — Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and Tamil Nadu.

The BJP leader said: “Probably for the first time the CBI would be filing two chargesheets in a case related to the 2G scam. While in the first chargesheet it implicated former Union minister A. Raja, in the second, which is likely to be filed soon, when the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are over, names of family members of a prominent political family of the state are likely to figure.”

He also accused the Congress of maintaining double standards on the corruption issue and said on the one hand it was speaking in favour of the Lok Pal Bill and on the other some of its leaders were issuing statements against the members who have been engaged to formulate the draft bill. “Such statements cannot be issued without the consent of the top leadership of the Congress as the party does not have a culture of giving liberty to its leaders to express their views,” Hussain said.

Citing another example, the BJP spokesperson said when names for the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) for looking into the 2G scam were being finalised on the floor of the Parliament, the Congress leaders had no objections but during the first meeting of the JPC, Congress objected over the names of BJP leaders Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh.