CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday denied that the Government had delayed action against the former External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, in the wake of references in the Volcker Committee report on the oil-for-food contracts in Iraq, even as the Congress rejected a suggestion by the Opposition that Sonia Gandhi should resign as chairperson of the National Advisory Council.

"At the first opportunity we had said that action will be taken in the matter," the Prime Minister said in an interaction with correspondents in Chandigarh after delivering the P.N. Haksar memorial lecture.

Asked about the possibility of resignation of Mr. Natwar Singh from the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister said that whatever action needed to be done had been taken. He said the probe into the issue would be conducted in a fair manner and that the terms of reference for the inquiry to be conducted by Justice R.S. Pathak would be announced soon.

To a question whether he saw a hidden hand in Mr. Natwar Singh being named in the Volcker committee report, the Prime Minister said he would not like to say anything that could prejudice the probe.

In Delhi, the Congress trained its guns on the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal (United) leader, George Fernandes, who had demanded that Ms. Gandhi quit.

"I find it astonishing that this party should have the audacity or the moral authority to call for the resignation or to question the Government or Ms. Sonia Gandhi with regard to the baseless allegations made in the Volcker report,'' the party spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan said.

Condemning the attempt being made by some sections of the Opposition to malign and defame the Congress president, she said these were "nothing more than a bunch of political nomads, living in a political desert and wilderness.''

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