National   

Natwar refutes charges

Special Correspondent

"Allegations in Volcker Committee report are baseless"

JAIPUR: Back on his home turf, Bharatpur in Rajasthan, for the first time after the controversy over the Volcker report broke out, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh on Saturday refuted the charges of being a "non-contractual" beneficiary of Iraq's Oil-for-Food programme. "The allegations in the Volcker report are baseless," he said.

Mr. Singh's one-day visit to the Mewat region (Alwar and Bharatpur) was not a programme to reach out to the public. In fact, the State Pradesh Congress Committee leadership, which planned the programme sometime back as a part of the `Jan Jagran Abiyan' (public awareness campaign), was rather unsure of his participation till two days back.

PCC president B.D. Kalla, the former Chief Minister, Jagannath Pahadia, and the former PCC president, Narain Singh, were among the speakers.

"In my 21 years of political life, I have not done anything which I, myself, my son and my grandson should feel ashamed of," Mr. Natwar Singh, accompanied by his son, Jagat Singh, MLA, told a meeting at Kaman town in Bharatpur district on Saturday. "It is not only me; the inferences of the involvement of the Congress party or any other Congress leader are totally wrong," he said.

Mr. Natwar Singh challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for his resignation. "The BJP leaders like L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who at present raise an accusing finger at me, themselves are tainted," he said.

Mr. Natwar Singh, who participated in three functions earlier in the day at Laxmangarh, his son's Assembly constituency in Alwar district, did not speak at those programmes.

In his address at Batodi, Mr. Narain Singh touched upon the issue to defend Mr. Natwar Singh while Mr. Kalla refrained from referring it.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

I will fight back, says Natwar
Distortion of history worries Amartya
I did not receive any notice: Bhim Singh
Another alarm in Delhi
Iraq sought ``surcharge'' for supplying crude oil: Ram Naik
A successful campaign against jehadi militancy integrates a divided society
BJP holds protest to seek Natwar's resignation
Let defect-free hearing, speech be our mission: Kalam
Badal points out "Punjab dimension" to oil-for-food scam
Gandhian values a panacea, says Gopinathan Nair
Bihar police do a vanishing act
Enough evidence to prove Volcker findings: NRI businessman
One crossing point on LoC to be opened on Monday
Natwar refutes charges
30% of population is migrant: report
We want to institutionalise arbitration, says Bhardwaj
CPI(M) to open office in Jaipur tomorrow
Sen told to find the truth
Concern over falling gender ratio
Report finds `patterns of abuse' by security forces
Army denies any roadblocks in opening relief points
Warrants against Army personnel
Two PoK militants killed in encounter
Tight security for U.S. aircrew
Advani undermined "collective leadership:" RSS

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu