India To Vote On London 2012 Games Boycott

The Indian Olympic Association has announced it will be holding a vote next month on whether or not to boycott the London Olympic Games.

Indian athletes have asked the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to take the action on December 5 because they object to Dow Chemical's £7m sponsorship of part of the Olympic Stadium.

The London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) said it needed a sponsor to cover the costs of a decorative, curtain-style wrap that will encircle the Olympic Stadium .

Dow Chemical owns Union Carbide - the company responsible for the 1984 Bhopal gas leak in 1984 , one of the world's biggest ever environmental disasters.

The Indian government is still pursuing Dow for £1.1bn of compensation for the 15,000 victims of the disaster.

Union Carbide paid £300m in compensation following the disaster and Dow claims that the matter is now settled.

They claim they never owned or operated the facility in Bhopal and only acquired shares of Union Carbide more than 16 years after the tragedy.

Barry Gardiner , MP for Brent North, said: " Locog cannot continue to ignore the risk that Dow poses to the Games. I urge Lord Coe to think of the athletes.

"They need to focus on preparing to give the performance of their lives.

"It is not fair to distract them or have them embroiled in a political dispute. Locog made a mistake in partnering with Dow.

"They must now accept that, end the relationship and lift this cloud from London 2012. They now have a deadline of 10 days to do so."

Mr Gardiner has brought together Bhopal victims' groups, 25 cross-party MPs and 22 Olympians to sign his letter to Locog.

The vote follows a letter from a senior Indian politician urging the country's government to boycott the Games over the issue.

"The funds intended for sponsoring the Olympics would be far better spent in alleviating the misery suffered by the people of Bhopal," said Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, where Bhopal is located.

Shadow Olympics minister Tessa Jowell MP described the action as a "significant step" from the IOA.

"It is a reminder to the world, nearly 27 years after the disaster in Bhopal, of the continuing outrage in India at the apparent indifference towards the suffering Union Carbide has caused."

She said she will be visiting India next week and has requested meetings with the IOA and Indian Sports Minister Ajay Maken .