Natwar seeks to clear name in RS

Former foreign minister K Natwar Singh today dug himself a little deeper in the pit that the Congress wants to see him in by deciding to make a personal statement in the Rajya Sabha, possibly on Thursday.

Although the Rajya Sabha secretariat is yet to get a copy of the statement which is mandatory under the rules, Singh has sought time for a statement, according to sources.

A personal statement is a rare occurance and cannot be debated. It is the right of individual members regardless of the relationship they have with their party.

Members can use the provision to clarify or correct facts made about themselves.However, as there is no debate, the member's personal statement has to be closely vetted by the office of the Chairman.

The last time a statement like this was made was in 2000 when Ram Jethmalani who had to resign as minister made use of this provision.

Significantly, top BJP sources said BJP leader Yashwant Sinha was advising Natwar on the drafting of the statement. "We believe it will be about the Pathak Commission report and the Volcker controversy. Shri Natwar Singh might want to clear his name by making a statement," Secretariat sources said.

However, BJP sources said they believed Natwar was also going to mention the Indo-US nuclear deal in the statement, possibly not realising that this would be inadmissible.

The sources said Singh had told Sinha he had written a letter to the Congress president wondering what had caused her to change her mind about the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"When I returned after concluding the Indo-US nuclear deal, you were less than happy about it. Now, you are supporting it totally. What has happened in the intervening period to change your mind" the letter is supposed to have asked.

BJP sources said if not in the personal statement, in the debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal, they would get Natwar to make this statement.

It is clear that to derive the maximum advantage and gather wide support, politically Natwar Singh is adopting a broadly anti-US position and is likely to say in his personal explanation that he has been a victim of trumped up charges that are a result of a US conspiracy to punish those who are opposing the superpower.

In doing so, he will at once have achieved the twin objective of proclaiming the Congress a stooge of the US and have the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party as well as the BJP to support him.

He may also be serving the objective of the BJP that wants to use him for another purpose altogether - to drive home the fact that the Congress is as deeply involved in the Iraqi food-for-oil scam as the former foreign minister. The BJP wants Parliament to debate exactly how the Congress came to be mentioned as a separate entity at all.

"I cannot believe there were separate contracts for Natwar Singh and separate ones for the Congress. I believe the two are the same and he knows all about the linkage," said BJP leader LK Advani to Business Standard.