The Hindu : Front Page : Natwar Singh hits back at Sonia

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Monday, Oct 30, 2006
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Natwar Singh hits back at Sonia

New Delhi: The former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh on Sunday said Congress president Sonia Gandhi was behind his recent problems with the Enforcement Directorate in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam and attacked her foreign origins.

He told Star News that he feared that he and his family might be jailed. ``Everything that the Government did against me was on Sonia's direction. I will not blame (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh,'' a release issued by the channel said.

The charges by the Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist for long, comes close on the heels of Ms. Gandhi's attack on him in a TV interview three days ago.

Mr. Natwar Singh was apparently referring to the setting up of an inquiry authority to go into allegations against him and his son in the wake of their names figuring in the Volcker report on the oil-for-food scam and the ED questioning them in this connection.

Reacting to Ms. Gandhi's accusation of her being betrayed by Mr. Natwar Singh, he said, ``Betrayed is a strong word and according to Indian culture such words are not used for a person 15 years older than her."

He also said: ``Those who are born on Indian soil only will understand the country's ethos and culture. Others will not.''

Mr. Natwar Singh quit as External Affairs Minister in November last year and was suspended by the Congress from its primary membership in August this year for bringing ``disrepute'' to the party. — PTI

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