12-06-2005, 01:41 AM
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<b>'Congress ka lafda hai, woh toh bakra hai' </b>
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
Sensing that the Congress was about to throw Natwar Singh to the wolves to save its skin, the Opposition on Monday shed tears for the Minister-without-portfolio and indicated that from now they would target party president Sonia Gandhi on the Volcker front.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani gave a clear indication of the change in the Opposition tactics in Mumbaiya Hindi when he said: <b>"Congress ka lafda hai, Natwar toh bakra hai,"(The Congress is the main culprit, Natwar Singh is the sacrificial lamb).</b>
The BJP's campaign against the Congress president was supported by Samajwadi Party with its general secretary<b> Amar Singh asking, "Tel ke khel ka kaptan kaun hai," (Who was the captain of the oil game).</b>
<b>"Mr Natwar Singh should not be made a 'scapegoat' like Madhavsingh Solanki, who had delivered a letter in the Bofors case and later forced to resign," Mr Amar Singh told reporters here.</b>
At another Press conference, Mr Advani alleged that Natwar Singh was being made a scapegoat by the Congress to "save its skin" in the Iraq oil deals. He demanded that the ruling coalition apply the same yardstick and remove Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the National Advisory Council since the Volcker Report also listed the Congress party as a beneficiary of the Iraq oil scam.
<b>Saying that he saw an uncanny similarity in the present situation and the run up to Emergency when all democratic norms were thrown to the winds to save the Indira Gandhi regime, Mr Advani said, "The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was not allowed to speak. A blanket is put around the Indian Ambassador to Croatia and he is whisked away on returning to the country reminding one of the midnight knocks during the Emergency."</b>
According to him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's latest statement that he would consider if Natwar Singh offered to resign further darkened the cloud of suspicion on the role of the Congress Party in the Iraq oil scam. <b>"The Minister and his family are repeatedly saying don't make us scapegoats. It seems obvious that the present mood in the ruling establishment is that if blame is put on one person, the party may perhaps be able to get out of it," </b>he said.
The Leader of Opposition termed the Winter Session of Parliament as a "single scam session" and claimed that "the oil scam is getting murkier and murkier with every passing day. Correspondingly for the Government, the situation is becoming more and more slippery. There is a sinking feeling". Mr Advani insisted that the Aneil Matherani episode had given "a new twist" to the episode by demolishing the ruling coalition's principal defence that the names listed in the Volcker Report were "unverified". "It is verification by an insider that there is substance in the allegations," he said,<b> pointing out that Matherani, was one of the four persons sent by the party to Iraq and he was also secretary of the AICC Foreign Affairs Cell</b>.
He said while the Congress' "displeasure" over him was understandable, the manner in which he was treated when he returned showed how the coalition was "messing up the whole thing." Mr Amar Singh directed his gun at the Congress president without mentioning her name. <b>"The media has left no stone unturned in exposing Swiss company Masefield's role in the UN's oil-for-food scam, but it has remained silent on the role of Italian company Qunta. It's role, too, should be probed,"</b> he said.
Mr Singh pointed out that Mr Matherani, could not have been appointed an Ambassador to Croatia, without the consent of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.
<b>"Then what Matherani said should be taken seriously," he said adding that the oil quota to Congress Party and Natwar Singh was allotted only after the visiting former Iraqi Vice-President met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.</b>
Meanwhile, alleging that Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Singh had "brought disgrace" to the country by their "stubbornness not to accept the truth" in the Volcker Report, JD(U) has demanded that both be relieved from their posts so that "credible" investigative and legal action could be taken. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"First it was Natwar Singh. Now Sonia Gandhi has also become a part of the caravan of a large bunch of congenitally corrupt people who survive in public by lying," Mr Fernandes said.</span>
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<b>'Congress ka lafda hai, woh toh bakra hai' </b>
Pioneer News Service/ New Delhi
Sensing that the Congress was about to throw Natwar Singh to the wolves to save its skin, the Opposition on Monday shed tears for the Minister-without-portfolio and indicated that from now they would target party president Sonia Gandhi on the Volcker front.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani gave a clear indication of the change in the Opposition tactics in Mumbaiya Hindi when he said: <b>"Congress ka lafda hai, Natwar toh bakra hai,"(The Congress is the main culprit, Natwar Singh is the sacrificial lamb).</b>
The BJP's campaign against the Congress president was supported by Samajwadi Party with its general secretary<b> Amar Singh asking, "Tel ke khel ka kaptan kaun hai," (Who was the captain of the oil game).</b>
<b>"Mr Natwar Singh should not be made a 'scapegoat' like Madhavsingh Solanki, who had delivered a letter in the Bofors case and later forced to resign," Mr Amar Singh told reporters here.</b>
At another Press conference, Mr Advani alleged that Natwar Singh was being made a scapegoat by the Congress to "save its skin" in the Iraq oil deals. He demanded that the ruling coalition apply the same yardstick and remove Sonia Gandhi as chairperson of the National Advisory Council since the Volcker Report also listed the Congress party as a beneficiary of the Iraq oil scam.
<b>Saying that he saw an uncanny similarity in the present situation and the run up to Emergency when all democratic norms were thrown to the winds to save the Indira Gandhi regime, Mr Advani said, "The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha was not allowed to speak. A blanket is put around the Indian Ambassador to Croatia and he is whisked away on returning to the country reminding one of the midnight knocks during the Emergency."</b>
According to him, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's latest statement that he would consider if Natwar Singh offered to resign further darkened the cloud of suspicion on the role of the Congress Party in the Iraq oil scam. <b>"The Minister and his family are repeatedly saying don't make us scapegoats. It seems obvious that the present mood in the ruling establishment is that if blame is put on one person, the party may perhaps be able to get out of it," </b>he said.
The Leader of Opposition termed the Winter Session of Parliament as a "single scam session" and claimed that "the oil scam is getting murkier and murkier with every passing day. Correspondingly for the Government, the situation is becoming more and more slippery. There is a sinking feeling". Mr Advani insisted that the Aneil Matherani episode had given "a new twist" to the episode by demolishing the ruling coalition's principal defence that the names listed in the Volcker Report were "unverified". "It is verification by an insider that there is substance in the allegations," he said,<b> pointing out that Matherani, was one of the four persons sent by the party to Iraq and he was also secretary of the AICC Foreign Affairs Cell</b>.
He said while the Congress' "displeasure" over him was understandable, the manner in which he was treated when he returned showed how the coalition was "messing up the whole thing." Mr Amar Singh directed his gun at the Congress president without mentioning her name. <b>"The media has left no stone unturned in exposing Swiss company Masefield's role in the UN's oil-for-food scam, but it has remained silent on the role of Italian company Qunta. It's role, too, should be probed,"</b> he said.
Mr Singh pointed out that Mr Matherani, could not have been appointed an Ambassador to Croatia, without the consent of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh.
<b>"Then what Matherani said should be taken seriously," he said adding that the oil quota to Congress Party and Natwar Singh was allotted only after the visiting former Iraqi Vice-President met Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi.</b>
Meanwhile, alleging that Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Singh had "brought disgrace" to the country by their "stubbornness not to accept the truth" in the Volcker Report, JD(U) has demanded that both be relieved from their posts so that "credible" investigative and legal action could be taken. <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>"First it was Natwar Singh. Now Sonia Gandhi has also become a part of the caravan of a large bunch of congenitally corrupt people who survive in public by lying," Mr Fernandes said.</span>
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