NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday said the former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh's relationship with the Congress and the Prime Minister, following his indictment by the Pathak Authority in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam, was "an internal affair" of that party.

The SP was with Mr. Natwar Singh on the issues of his stand on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, his privilege motion in the Rajya Sabha, his attempts to speak in Parliament and his objections to the leak of the Pathak Report. But "his relationship with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is an internal matter, although we regret the `language' he used against the Prime Minister after his suspension from the party," SP general secretary Amar Singh told a press conference here.

He said the punishment meted out to Mr. Natwar Singh was disproportionate to his guilt. "We are against the double standards being applied in his case. If he is guilty, so is the Congress party. If [the Italian businessman in the Bofors case] Ottavio Quattrocchi's crime is not the Congress high command's [Sonia Gandhi], how can Andaleep Sehgal's [alleged beneficiary in the oil-for-food case] crime be Mr. Natwar Singh's? Either both are at fault or both are not. Mr. Natwar Singh did very soberly say at his press conference on Friday that not a leaf moved in the Congress without Ms. Gandhi's knowledge."

The SP leader took exception to media reports that he was "tutoring" and "coaching" Mr. Natwar Singh on the fallout of his indictment by the Pathak panel. "I am no coach or tutor, I am only a toddler. When I was born in 1956, Mr. Natwar Singh was representing India in China."

"We did not offer membership"

Neither his party offered Mr. Natwar Singh membership nor did he officially seek it, although he was welcome, said Mr. Amar Singh. "During Narasimha Rao's time, he had been offered SP membership but he declined because of his loyalty to the Nehru family. He was recently offered a Rajya Sabha seat in the vacancy created by Anil Ambani's resignation, but he again refused."

Mr. Amar Singh alleged that Mr. Natwar Singh was dropped from the Union Cabinet because he had expressed his reservations about the U.S. shifting the goalpost in the nuclear deal. "The Congress has a long tradition of sacrificing its leaders, be it Krishna Menon, T.T. Krishnamachari, Madhavsinh Solanki and now Mr. Natwar Singh."

The SP leader said the former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury and the former Minister of State Digvijay Singh met Mr. Natwar Singh on the India-U.S. Nuclear Declaration as he was a seasoned diplomat and the issue involved India's sovereignty and security. Nothing more should be read into his own meetings with Mr. Natwar Singh, the SP leader said.

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