Uproar over pay-off charges

The noose around beleaguered minister K Natwar Singh tightened today with an aide making fresh disclosures about the latter's role in the Iraqi oil-for-food programme.

As a result, Opposition parties renewed their offensive, demanding the resignation of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the "arrest" of Natwar Singh.

The issue rocked both Houses of Parliament on Friday with the Opposition forcing repeated adjournments all through the day.

They refused to relent even after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement on the said disclosures made by Indian Ambassador to Croatia Anil Mathrani in an interview to a private television channel.

Mathrani, who assisted Natwar Singh when he was heading the foreign affairs cell in the AICC before the Congress came to power, reportedly claimed that Singh had received oil allotment from Saddam Hussein's regime for his "personal services".

Both Natwar Singh and the Congress- the two alleged non-contractual beneficiaries named in Volcker report- are "exactly the same", the Indian Ambassador said in the interview. The PM said in the Lok Sabha that Mathrani's statements related to the transactions under investigation and they were "a matter of concern".

The Enforcement Directorate will take 'congnisance' of the statements attributed to the Indian Ambassador and pursue its investigations. The ED has assured the government that their investigations are proceeding on the right track and they would be able to establish the facts expeditiously.

"We should not pre-judge the final outcome of the investigation or pre-empt the findings that may be given by the Justice RS Pathak Inquiry Authority,' said the PM adding that no one who is guilty will go unpunished. The Opposition parties were, however, not satisfied with the PM's statement, as they continued to disrupt the proceedings by trooping in the well of the House and sloganeering against Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani raised this issue during Zero Hour asking the government not to make Natwar Singh a 'scapegoat' and demanding the resignation of the UPA Chairperson.

This ensued heated exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition Benches leading to the adjournment of the House. As the House reassembled after 15 minutes, the Speaker informed that the Prime Minister would make a statement on this issue.

Advani, however, argued that people were 'shocked' by Mathrani's disclosures and therefore, the PM's statement should be deferred till Monday. This followed yet another round of arguments between the Treasury and the Opposition leading to adjornment again.

Similar scenes were witnessed in the Rajya Sabha. Since the Opposition parties were not ready to relent even after the PM 's statement, the House was adjourned till Monday.

Information & Broadcastig Minister PR Dashmunshi told reporters later that Mathrani had said "nothing new" and the Opposition was trying to divert public attention from "in-house" developments concerning Uma Bharati in the BJP and Raj Thackeray in Shiv Sena.