India News Online » News Analysis » Indian Politics » 

Volcker report : Natwar goes, Sonia NDA’s next target

	December 12, 2005

The Volcker report claimed its first major political victim last week with Natwar Singh being forced to resign from the Union Council of Ministers. But that was not the end of the story as the opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is now demanding the resignation of Congress president Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the National Advisory Council. The NDA hullaballo on the issue also affected parliamentary because of the Opposition uproar. The Government mounted a counter attack with the Prime Minister slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for what he called creating a ‘drama’ to divert attention from the party’s internal troubles, the tussle for leadership and Uma Bharati’s expulsion. The Congress has demanded that the purview of the Justice R.S. Pathak Inquiry Authority, looking into the Volcker report, should be expanded to cover the allegations of involvement of “very close aides” of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in murky oil deals with Iraq during Saddam Hussain’s rule.



After Natwar Singh’s resignation, the opposition wanted a Joint Parliamentary Committee to be set up to probe the Volcker findings on pay-offs in Iraqi oil deals, but the demand was rejected outright by the Government. Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that as the Justice R.S. Pathak authority had already started its work and its scope was very wide, no purpose will be served by a JPC at the present stage.





Natwar’s resignation tale



Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh started the week with assertions that he will not quit as Union Minister. But within a day he was forced to change his line and say that he will resign after the Prime Minister’s return from Moscow, scheduled for Wednesday. Dec. 7. But this was not acceptable to the Opposition which continued to press for his immediate resignation, leading to disruption of the proceedings of both Houses of Parliament. The question hour was stalled and both Houses had to be ultimately adjourned for the day on Tuesday, December 6.

Despite the slogan shouting by the NDA members, the Government managed to push through much of the legislative business scheduled for the day. Being the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, the day saw ruling benches demanding the arrest of leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani while the NDA continued to press for Natwar Singh’s ouster from the Union Council of Ministers and Sonia Gandhi’s resignation as chairperson of the National Advisory Council. Despite the din, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram introduced the Taxation Laws (Second Amendment Bill) and the Finance Act in the Lok Sabha. The House also cleared the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2005 and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Bill, 2004 without further discussion. In the Rajya Sabha also, three Bills to amend the Chartered Accountants, Cost Accountants and Company Secretary Acts were introduced amidst protests from the opposition.



Natwar Singh handed over his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh within hours of his return from Moscow on December 7 evening. He had been pushed to the wall even within the Congress party after he was removed as a member of the high power Congress steering committee late at night on Monday, Dec. 5. Sources say that Congress leaders in general had taken strong exception to Natwar Singh’s stonewalling their demand for his resignation at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday evening, Natwar Singh met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and said later that he had decided to resign from the Cabinet. He said, “I do not want to provide an excuse to the Opposition to stall parliament.” But he continued to assert his innocence and said that none of the charges levelled against him had been proved. Natwar Singh said since he and the Congress had decided to rise above individuals, and respected Parliament, he had taken the decision to quit the Union Cabinet.



The Opposition termed the resignation as a great victory. The BJP parliamentary spokesperson said that the party would now train its guns on Sonia Gandhi which was evident in the subsequent days. On Wednesday, Dec. 7, NDA targeted Sonia Gandhi in Parliament over the Volcker report. Led by leader of the opposition L.K. Advani, NDA members demanded her resignation as chairperson of the National Advisory Council, a cabinet rank post. They contended that the report had named the Congress party also as a non-contractual beneficiary of the Iraqi-oil-for-food scam. Their contention was that as the President of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi was answerable in the matter.





‘Bloodless coup’ by the Congress



Observers say that Natwar Singh’s resignation came after what they called a “bloodless coup” against the former Minister. Natwar Singh was isolated, pushed into a corner and ultimately forced to blink in the battle of nerves. Close on the heels of the Volcker committee report on the Iraqi oil scam, which implicated both Natwar Singh and the Congress, the party leadership, as part of its damage-control exercise, started turning the screws on Natwar Singh in phases. With Natwar digging in his heels, the Congress leadership first agreed to the “compromise solution” of his exit from the External Affairs Ministry. Given its own vulnerable position in the raging controversy, it also found a “buffer” in his facing the Opposition’s fire. His instant sacking might also have been construed as an “indirect admission of guilt” and could have taken on a larger dimension.



Following Natwar Singh’s erstwhile understudy, Aniel Matherani’s sensational “disclosure” against him in the scandal, the crisis had snowballed for the Congress top brass warranting a bigger surgery. It was reluctant to resort to axing him from the Ministry because of its “apprehensions” that he might hit back and point accusing fingers at the party leadership which could have proved disastrous, especially in the backdrop of the public outcry as well as the NDA’s unrelenting onslaught.



To checkmate the possibility of any such damage, the Congress brass kick-started the process to persuade Natwar Singh to step down voluntarily to buy peace with him while giving him a “graceful exit” route in return. Amidst the growing oust-Natwar chorus and beleaguered Natwar’s refusal to give in, the Congress leadership consistently and progressively distanced itself from Natwar Singh since the Volcker controversy burst upon the national scene about 40 days ago. The Sonia Gandhi-led Congress Steering (Working) Committee’s decision stripping Natwar Singh of his membership of this panel, was only a culmination of the party leadership’s desire for his scalp, sending out a definitive signal to him to pack his bags in the “interest of the party” and help it avert the prospect of sacking him from the Ministry. Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also endorsed the Congress Steering Committee’s resolution about Natwar Singh’s position having become “untenable” had said if he tenders his resignation voluntarily, it could be considered.





BJP accuses Govt. of double standards



Even after it became clear that Natwar Singh was resigning, there was a war of words in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Dec. 7 with the NDA accusing the Government of double standards vis-a-vis Natwar Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Though Parliament resumed almost normal functioning on the day, the Opposition’s demand for Sonia Gandhi’s resignation led to noisy scenes, bitter exchanges and bedlam, resulting in an angry Lok Sabha Speaker Som Nath Chatterjee saying that he was ashamed to be Speaker of the House. When Advani made the demand for Sonia Gandhi’s resignation, he got an earful from Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Dasmunshi which left him squirming.



Alluding to the troubles Advani had been facing with the RSS, Dasmunshi said : “You should know, Advaniji, that we have no outside orbit of the Congress where dictation comes whether somebody has to vacate office or continue in office. You may be a victim of outside dictates, we are not; Our leader is not on a transfer order from outside. You are on a transfer order from outside.”



An irrepressible Dasmunshi said, “Advaniji is very happy today. I know after being served a lot of discredits from his visit to Pakistan, from the Sudarshan camp and lastly due to Uma, he has got one credit. He gave credit to Soniaji. By not becoming Prime Minister of the country, she at least protected a lady from shaving her head.”





Concerted demand for JPC



Not satisfied with Natwar Singh’s resignation, the NDA made a concerted effort, both inside and outside Parliament, for the setting up of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) in the interest of what it called transparency. On Friday, December 9, the BJP raised the demand in both Houses of Parliament. But the Government rejected the demand saying that no useful purpose will be served by such a probe at this stage when the Pathak Inquiry Authority is already on the job. Outside Parliament, BJP president Advani said in Bhubaneshwar on Friday that his party will not allow the Centre to bury the Volcker report. He said a JPC should be set up to go into the matter.



Earlier in the week, speaking at a function in Varanasi on the 13th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, Advani accused the UPA Government of its failure to take proper action over the Volcker controversy. Referring to the matter, he said, “Kaisa nikamma Pradhan Mantri hai aur kaisa nikamma netritva hai, (how worthless is the Prime Minister and how worthless is the political leadership).



“As many as 40 days have passed since the Volcker report has been made public, but the UPA Government has not taken any action so far,” the BJP president said.



“This is not a common corruption. It is shameful to run politics through the money obtained from abroad in shady deals. No country can make progress with the kind of corruption exposed in Volcker report,” Advani added.



Advani’s remarks drew an immediate reaction from the Congress. Party spokesman Anand Sharma said on December 7 that the language used by the BJP president was unbecoming of the post of leader of the Opposition and has no place in the country’s democracy. He said, “While we do not expect the Leader of the Opposition and the BJP to appreciate the achievements of the UPA government, they are dragging political debate to the gutter level.” Sharma said Advani’s “irritation was understandable” as he was going to quit as BJP chief in a few weeks.





ED interrogates Matherani



The Enforcement Directorate continued its interrogation of India’s erstwhile Ambassador to Croatia, Aniel Matherani, at the beginning of last week. Speaking to newspersons on Thursday, December 8, Matherani said the Congress leadership was not aware of the presence of Natwar Singh’s son, Jagat Singh, and his cousin Andaleeb Sehgal in Baghdad when a four-member party delegation led by Natwar Singh visited Iraq in January 2001. He said there was a sense of disbelief in the party when the Volcker controversy broke out in October-November. Matherani’s claim that Natwar Singh received oil vouchers from the Saddam Hussain regime, led to renewed demands for the former External Affairs Minister’s resignation.



Meanwhile, Justice R.S. Pathak has said that he has called for the documents obtained from the Volcker committee and now available with the Enforcement Directorate. Refuting reports that he had not been given adequate powers, Justice Pathak said, “For the time being, we have all the powers we need, and if we need more powers, the Government will give them to us.” He pointed out that his was a judicial inquiry.