11-07-2005, 09:21 PM
<b>Volcker effect: Natwar Singh removed as Foreign Minister</b>
<b>NEW DELHI : Amid mounting pressure for his exit, K Natwar Singh was on Monday relieved as External Affairs Minister and made Minister without portfolio hours after government appointed a judicial commission to inquire into allegations of Iraqi oil pay-offs.</b>
Capping 10 days of high political drama ever since a UN probe committee named Natwar Singh and Congress as beneficiaries in the pay offs during Saddam Hussain's regime, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to the President that he would be minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers.
In the face of a defiant Natwar Singh insisting that he would not step down because he had not done any wrong, the Prime Minister retained him as minister without portfolio apparently under a compromise worked out after hectic consultations Congress President Sonia Gandhi had with senior party colleagues.
Hours after the setting up of the judicial commission former Chief Justice of India, R S Pathak, Natwar Singh was called to Race Course residence of the Prime Minister when the issue of his continuance in the ministry came up.
<b>Shortly afterwards the PM's office issued a statement saying Natwar singh requested the Prime Minister to relieve him of the External Affairs Ministry portfolio. "The Prime Minister has accepted his request and has written to the President that Natwar Singh will be Minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers."</b>
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>NEW DELHI : Amid mounting pressure for his exit, K Natwar Singh was on Monday relieved as External Affairs Minister and made Minister without portfolio hours after government appointed a judicial commission to inquire into allegations of Iraqi oil pay-offs.</b>
Capping 10 days of high political drama ever since a UN probe committee named Natwar Singh and Congress as beneficiaries in the pay offs during Saddam Hussain's regime, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to the President that he would be minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers.
In the face of a defiant Natwar Singh insisting that he would not step down because he had not done any wrong, the Prime Minister retained him as minister without portfolio apparently under a compromise worked out after hectic consultations Congress President Sonia Gandhi had with senior party colleagues.
Hours after the setting up of the judicial commission former Chief Justice of India, R S Pathak, Natwar Singh was called to Race Course residence of the Prime Minister when the issue of his continuance in the ministry came up.
<b>Shortly afterwards the PM's office issued a statement saying Natwar singh requested the Prime Minister to relieve him of the External Affairs Ministry portfolio. "The Prime Minister has accepted his request and has written to the President that Natwar Singh will be Minister without portfolio in the Union Council of Ministers."</b>
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->