Sharad Yadav, the newly-elected president of the Janata Dal United, has asked the Union Government to scrap its plans to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and utilize that money for better purposes instead.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Yadav said participation in the Games is wasteful expenditure and a country like India can ill-afford to spend such a huge amount of money for a few medals.

"I understand that the Indian Olympic Committee, headed by Suresh Kalmadi, spent Rs 23 crore on an eleven-minute song and drama sequence, in which several film actors took part, at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games. This money was total waste and I believe should have been used for the welfare of the students from backward class communities instead," he said.

He wondered why a country like India should spend so much on bidding to host the Games.

"What is the big deal in hosting games like the Commonwealth Games in India? What do we gain, barring a few medals and some IOA officials having a good time? I believe that the huge amount of money that would be spent on hosting the Games could have been used for giving grants to Delhi University and other academic institutions of excellence. We could have created more IITs and IIMs with that fund," he added.

He promised to step up his campaign against the Games in weeks to come, which would mean giving sleepless nights to Suresh Kalmadi and his comrades in the IOA.