12-04-2005, 04:08 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Iraqi ex-envoy adds grist to Opp drive
Pioneer.com
Yogesh Vajpeyi / New Delhi
'Natwar requested me to get visa for his son as head of youth delegation of Cong'--- The Opposition on Saturday received fresh ammunition in its offensive against the UPA Government on Volcker issue from former Iraqi ambassador to India Salah al Mukhtar. Â
In an interview to NDTV, Mr Mukhtar said,<b> "Natwar Singh requested me to get a visa for his son as head of a youth delegation of the Congress and that he would like to show his solidarity."</b> <!--emo&:drool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/drool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='drool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
He added that subsequently, Mr Singh's son Jagat had came to the embassy with two others saying that they were part of the Youth Congress delegation.
<b>This is the first official confirmation that Jagat Singh and two others - one could have been Andy Sehgal - travelled to Iraq with Natwar Mr as part of the party's official team.</b> So far, the party had maintained that it had nothing to do with the Iraq and Jordon visits of former External Affairs Minister's son and Sehgal.
<b>Armed with new facts, BJP President L K Advani said at Jaipur that the UPA Government drop Mr Singh from the Cabinet and that Ms Sonia Gandhi should resign as UPA chairperson.</b>
"Unless the Prime Minister comes out with a clear action on Anil Matherani's interview dragging Mr Natwar Singh and the Congress party into the Volcker issue he is bound face a turbulent House," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said.
<b>He accused the Congress of trying to purchase the silence of Mr Singh by not removing him from the Union Cabinet, Congress Working Committee and various trusts of the Nehru-Gandhi family.</b>
"It is amazing how Mr Singh continues as Cabinet Minister and CWC member even after being named as one of the non contractual beneficiaries of Iraqi oil-for-food scam by UN constituted Volcker committee report," he said.
BJP leaders pointed out that former Iraqi diplomat had corroborated what Matherani said in his interview to India Today, though he subsequently dubbed it as "off-the-record" comments "quoted out of context".
Meanwhile, Jagat Singh gave a new twist to the controversy and alleged that Mr Matherani's statement was at the behest of "my father's enemies in the party."
"There are people in the Congress who feel the probe is slipping out of their hands and that Natwar Singh might soon be back," he said in a media interview from his Assembly constitutency in Rajasthan.
"That is why they have used the Matherani card. They must have told him that recalled from Croatia, he will be rewarded with something else, that he should make political capital of," he said.
<b>Quote unquote</b>
After Matherani's allegations against Natwar, the UPA Government and Congress Party has lost the right to disown the Volcker committee report as unverified. Natwar should be removed forthwith from the Ministry and Sonia Gandhi should quit as party chief
<b>L K Advani</b>
I think Natwar Singh is Natwar Singh and I appeal to the Opposition not to paint him as 'Natwar Lal'
<b>NCP's D P Tripathi</b>
There is a struggle, we will face it like Mangal Pandey
<b>Natwar Singh</b>
There are people in the Congress who feel the probe is slipping out of their hands and that Natwar Singh might soon be back. That is why they have used the Matherani card
<b>Jagat Singh </b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Yogesh Vajpeyi / New Delhi
'Natwar requested me to get visa for his son as head of youth delegation of Cong'--- The Opposition on Saturday received fresh ammunition in its offensive against the UPA Government on Volcker issue from former Iraqi ambassador to India Salah al Mukhtar. Â
In an interview to NDTV, Mr Mukhtar said,<b> "Natwar Singh requested me to get a visa for his son as head of a youth delegation of the Congress and that he would like to show his solidarity."</b> <!--emo&:drool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/drool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='drool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
He added that subsequently, Mr Singh's son Jagat had came to the embassy with two others saying that they were part of the Youth Congress delegation.
<b>This is the first official confirmation that Jagat Singh and two others - one could have been Andy Sehgal - travelled to Iraq with Natwar Mr as part of the party's official team.</b> So far, the party had maintained that it had nothing to do with the Iraq and Jordon visits of former External Affairs Minister's son and Sehgal.
<b>Armed with new facts, BJP President L K Advani said at Jaipur that the UPA Government drop Mr Singh from the Cabinet and that Ms Sonia Gandhi should resign as UPA chairperson.</b>
"Unless the Prime Minister comes out with a clear action on Anil Matherani's interview dragging Mr Natwar Singh and the Congress party into the Volcker issue he is bound face a turbulent House," BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said.
<b>He accused the Congress of trying to purchase the silence of Mr Singh by not removing him from the Union Cabinet, Congress Working Committee and various trusts of the Nehru-Gandhi family.</b>
"It is amazing how Mr Singh continues as Cabinet Minister and CWC member even after being named as one of the non contractual beneficiaries of Iraqi oil-for-food scam by UN constituted Volcker committee report," he said.
BJP leaders pointed out that former Iraqi diplomat had corroborated what Matherani said in his interview to India Today, though he subsequently dubbed it as "off-the-record" comments "quoted out of context".
Meanwhile, Jagat Singh gave a new twist to the controversy and alleged that Mr Matherani's statement was at the behest of "my father's enemies in the party."
"There are people in the Congress who feel the probe is slipping out of their hands and that Natwar Singh might soon be back," he said in a media interview from his Assembly constitutency in Rajasthan.
"That is why they have used the Matherani card. They must have told him that recalled from Croatia, he will be rewarded with something else, that he should make political capital of," he said.
<b>Quote unquote</b>
After Matherani's allegations against Natwar, the UPA Government and Congress Party has lost the right to disown the Volcker committee report as unverified. Natwar should be removed forthwith from the Ministry and Sonia Gandhi should quit as party chief
<b>L K Advani</b>
I think Natwar Singh is Natwar Singh and I appeal to the Opposition not to paint him as 'Natwar Lal'
<b>NCP's D P Tripathi</b>
There is a struggle, we will face it like Mangal Pandey
<b>Natwar Singh</b>
There are people in the Congress who feel the probe is slipping out of their hands and that Natwar Singh might soon be back. That is why they have used the Matherani card
<b>Jagat Singh </b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->