Congress wants probe to include Vajpayee aides

BJP says report only mentions Congress

Turning the table on the Opposition, the Congress today demanded that the terms of reference of the Pathak Inquiry Authority be expanded to investigate the involvement of close aides of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ministers in the previous NDA regime in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam.

The Volcker report continued to rock Parliament today as the Opposition staged a walk-out from the Lok Sabha demanding the resignation of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi from the National Advisory Council, and the Treasury Benches forcing adjournment in the Rajya Sabha.

They demanded a debate on the purported disclosures by a Hindi weekly about the involvement of Vajpayee's aides and the then ministers.

Congress MPs waved copies of the Hindi Weekly in both Houses of Parliament, while Opposition benches flaunted copies of another news report about the alleged involvement of former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh in the Iraqi oil payoff.

Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma and Congress General Secretary Ambika Soni raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha demanding government investigations into it. The report alleged that a close associate of Vajpayee had links with the son of ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

Addressing a press briefing later in the day Sharma cited the report in a Hindi weekly to claim that "certain people very close to" the former PM and other senior leaders (of the BJP) had engaged in oil trade in Iraq.

Many ministers had visited Iraq and these visits were "unofficial". Many visits were made to Jordan and Baghdad and chartered flights were used. Emigration, customs and Directorate-General of Civil Aviation should compile the information and give it to the inquiry authority and investigation agencies, Sharma said.

He said the government had given the inquiry authority all the powers it had asked for and if it seeks any more powers it would also be given.

Since it is a serious matter and the Opposition has been painting the Congress as a villain in the oil-for-food controversy, the House should take up the issue immediately, Congress MPs demanded. Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan turned it down saying that no prior notice had been given on this.

Terming these allegations as "baseless" BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said no such thing had figured in the Volcker report, which mentioned only Natwar Singh and the Congress.

He said such allegations by former Foreign Secretary and Congress functionary Romesh Bhandari were being levelled to enable the party to "hide its corruption" and divert the attention from Volcker and Mitrokhin revelations.

The government may undertake any inquiry into the allegations, he said.