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Natwar betrayed my trust: Sonia

"He misused the name of the Congress in the oil-for-food scam"

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said the former External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh, "betrayed" her trust by "misusing" the party's name in the oil-for-food scam in Iraq.

"As it became clearer that it was true that my colleague had misused the name of the party in some ways, I felt extremely betrayed," she said in an interview to NDTV, according to a release issued by the channel on Thursday. "He was a colleague in whom I had placed trust, and I felt very terribly betrayed."

In her comments immediately after the controversy broke out late last year, Ms. Gandhi had said she had a "close working relationship" with Mr. Singh, but made it clear that anyone found involved in the scam would have to pay for it.

"Youngsters can wait"

Referring to young party leaders, she said they could to be made Ministers. "I am not saying they are not doing very much. But I feel that they can certainly do a little more, wait a little more and gain a little more experience in Parliament."

What had to be kept in mind was that the Congress was working in a coalition, and therefore "we do not have that many Ministries at our own disposal to give to our colleagues."

On Rahul Gandhi, she said he himself had stated on a number of occasions that he would like to "wait and learn before taking up a position of responsibility."

Ms. Gandhi dismissed the charge that she was behind the disqualification of Samajwadi Party member Jaya Bachchan from the Rajya Sabha on the office of profit issue. ``There is no question about it. My nature is not a vindictive one and is not a petty one. Besides, I have larger issues to concentrate on than the petty ones of which I am accused,'' she said. — PTI

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