The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday demanded the postponement of the National Games and a total revamp of its “corruption-ridden, spendthrift, and ineffectual” organising committees.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP spokesperson V.V. Rajesh said the vain attempts of the government to somehow cobble together the games would cast a permanent slur on Kerala’s storied sports tradition. It would also deprive the Kerala youth of the much-needed and long-lasting sports infrastructure. For one, the pricey synthetic turf for surfacing the international-level hockey stadium in Kollam required 15 days to be paved and another 15 to cure. If done hastily, as the games organisers were attempting to do, the turf would not last. The foreign suppliers of the material will not underwrite its 15-year warranty. He said the imported turf had already degraded due to poor and unmonitored storage. “Rats have already chewed a good portion of it,” he said.
The public exchequer would incur more losses with no quantifiable gain if the government rushed ahead with its quixotic plans to meet the deadline, Mr. Rajesh said. The Governor’s decision not to grace the National Games signature film release function could not be deemed as “coincidental,” he said and added that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had held the Sports portfolio during the period when key decisions relating to the award of contracts were taken. The BJP urged the government to urgently convene an all-party meeting on the issue.
