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Volcker affair : Natwar removed from Congress panels |
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The name of former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh is conspicuous by its absence from the six committees and sub-committees set up by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to make preparations for the AICC plenary session to be held in Hyderabad from January 21 to 23 next year. Long seen as the party’s voice on foreign affairs, Natwar Singh was recently dropped from the high-powered Congress Steering Committee after the Volcker controversy broke out. Sonia Gandhi has appointed Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee to head the six-member sub-committee which will draft the resolution on international affairs. Mukherjee is also the convener of the 16-member Drafting Committee which will vet all resolutions. The conveners of other sub panels are : Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh (Political), former Karnataka Chief Minister Veerrappa Moily (Economic) and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (Agriculture, Employment and Poverty Alleviation). AICC Treasurer Moti Lal Vora will head the organising committee for the plenary.
Natwar Singh’s exclusion from the panels indicates that he cannot hope for rehabilitation in the party till his name is cleared by the Justice R.S. Pathak Inquiry Authority probing the Volcker report allegations.
Last week saw another clash between the ruling UPA and the BJP on the handling of the Volcker report. The BJP took umbrage at the Prime Minister’s remark in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Dec. 15 that investigations are progressing in the Volcker inquiry and “there is nothing else for me to state in the matter.” Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh expressed disappointment at Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement. He said, “Though the Prime Minister claims his statement is clear, consistent and firm, it is a dense forest of ambiguity from which it is difficult to find out what he means.”
Charging the Prime Minister with “consistently skirting” the issue, Singh said his statement did not address the centrality of the new facts thrown up by former Indian Ambassador to Croatia, Aniel Matherani’s claims on television and later in a news magazine. “It is a rather boxed-in statement that throws no light on new facts.”
Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat intervened several times to restore order when the Treasury benches objected to Jaswant Singh seeking a lengthy clarification which, they said, was outside the statement.
Outside the House, BJP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj accused the Prime Minister of what she called “insulting the House” by refusing to give clarifications. She said, “The Prime Minister through his behaviour has insulted the entire House. The way he dismissed us was deplorable and condemnable.” Sushma Swaraj told newspersons that it was an established convention that the Prime Minister replied to clarifications sought by Members and pointed out that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi had repeatedly assured the House that Manmohan Singh would be doing so on his return from his foreign visits.
Dismissive of the nearly 45 minutes of clarifications sought on a statement made by him on December 2, following Opposition demand over the remarks allegedly made by former Indian Ambassador to Croatia, Aniel Matherani, the Prime Minister had told that “the matter is under investigation. There is nothing more for me to state.”
Natwar’s son questioned by ED
The Enforcement Directorate questioned Natwar Singh’s son, Jagat Singh, in New Delhi last week on his alleged involvement in the Iraqi oil payoffs case. On the second day of his questioning on Friday, December 16, Jagat Singh claimed that his visit to Baghdad in 2001 was officially sanctioned by the then Indian Youth Congress president Randip Singh Surjewala. He handed over a letter to the Enforcement Directorate backing his claim. The letter purported to be signed by Surjewala spoke about the Indian Youth Congress’ intention to forge further ties with Iraqi youth.
Surjewala, on his part, told the Congress high command on Saturday, Dec. 17, that he had not authorised Jagat Singh to represent the Indian Youth congress in Iraq. He said the signature on the letter given by Jagat Singh to the Enforcement Directorate was not his.
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