CWG: Kalmadi withdraws plea to attend Parliament

NEW DELHI: Congress MP and sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi today withdrew his plea from the trial court, seeking permission to attend the Monsoon Session of Parliament, saying he will approach the Delhi High Court for the same.

Special CBI Judge Talwant Singh accepted Kalmadi's submission that the high court was the appropriate forum to decide his plea for custody parole to attend Parliament.

"The application dated July 22 of Suresh Kalmadi seeking permission to attend the eighth session of Parliament is dismissed as withdrawn," the judge said.

66-year-old Kalmadi, who is a Lok Sabha member from Pune, had on July 22 moved the application for custody parole to attend the 8th session of the 15th Lok Sabha.

Earlier this month, Kalmadi had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar seeking her permission to attend the session of Parliament scheduled from August 1 to September 8. The Speaker, however, had said he would be able to attend Parliament only after the competent court's permission.

In his application, Kalmadi had told the court that he has been served with summons from Lok Sabha Secretary General T K Vishwanathan to attend the session beginning August 1 and being a peoples' representative "he has a larger role to play in the polity of the nation as an MP."