| In north India, the Punjab Kesri had around three editorials on the matter and its editor Ashwani Kumar wrote an equal number of front page articles. This is apart from the front page stories on each day. The anchor on the front page had pictures of Arun Nehru, Natwar Singh and Satish Sharma, and said that the loyalists of the Gandhi family, right from the time of Indira Gandhi, were the ones that brought it the most shame. One front page article by the editor slammed the Left parties for their stand while an editorial ended with a poem in Hindi that said the real issue in the looting of the caravan was not who the bandits were, but what the government was doing, and their relationship with the bandits. Dainik Jagran had an edit saying the Congress' actions were wishy-washy, starting from the clean chit given by the PM the first day, to stripping the external affairs portfolio but yet retaining Natwar in the Cabinet. Dainik Bhaskar took a somewhat pro-Natwar line and highlighted Volcker's latest statement saying he wasn't certain a notice had been sent to Natwar Singh "" the paper reported Volcker as saying no notice had been sent. It had a columnist saying it was a US conspiracy. |
| Monday morning's Bangla papers saw reports on how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been holding several rounds of meetings with his colleagues in the government and in the Congress party over the advisability of retaining Natwar Singh in the Cabinet, in addition to the decision on launching a preliminary probe. Ananda Bazar Patrika had a sharp editorial questioning the government's wisdom in not removing Natwar Singh from the Cabinet altogether. The tone of the editorial was in sharp contrast to the reportage in the paper, which tended to project the Natwar Singh point of view more prominently than that of others. Prakash Karat's views that the surcharges paid by companies and non-contractual beneficiaries like Natwar Singh need not be equated with bribes or kickbacks were as prominently displayed as the CPI leaders' endorsement of the Government move in retaining Natwar Singh in the cabinet. Bartaman came out with a different angle in its reportage on the meeting between Volcker and India's Ambassador to the UN, Nirupam Sen. This report focused on Volcker's promise that he would submit to the Indian government all relevant documents within one month to establish the complicity of all those named in his report. |
| Kannada Prabha, in keeping with its Express group lineage, led the way for the three Kannada papers. Mirroring Indian Express' day-to-day coverage of baying for Natwar Singh's blood, the paper was severely critical of how the Congress and Natwar Singh had brought down India's reputation. When Natwar Singh was relieved of his portfolio, this newspaper ran the headline: "Natwar is now an externally handicapped minister". Its editorials were critical of how Hamdan Exports, Jagat Singh and Natwar Singh were party to paying kickbacks in these deals. |
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