Hint, hint8230;

In removing K. Natwar Singh from the Congress Steering CommitteeCSC, Sonia Gandhi has sent her clearest signal yet that she would want the...

In removing K. Natwar Singh from the Congress Steering CommitteeCSC, Sonia Gandhi has sent her clearest signal yet that she would want the scandal-tainted minister without portfolio to relinquish office. Given Natwar Singh8217;s seniority in the party, bluntly telling him to go was always going to be difficult for Sonia. But she has been not only pretty firm in her resolve but fairly consistent in her expression of it. She told the audience at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit that she wanted a quick inquiry into the Oil for Food scandal. If that wasn8217;t hint enough, Natwar8217;s removal from the Congress8217;s top body should clarify matters. The ball, we must repeat, is now in Natwar8217;s court. Yet, like a limpet8212;a phrase many in the Congress may be familiar with8212;he sticks on to his ministerial bungalow and to the grandeur of make-believe authority. His party president8217;s correct assessment of the prevailing public mood is, sadly, lost on him.

Each day, Natwar and his family drag this unseemly drama on and on. On Monday, Jagat Singh refuted the then Youth Congress president8217;s charge that he had not authorised a delegation to visit Iraq in 2001. He spoke of a 8220;witch hunt8221;. He said his business dealings with Hamdaan Exports were non-existent and even if they existed they were irrelevant because he Jagat was not a legislator then and his father was in opposition. The contradictions in the man8217;s argument are too obvious to even point out; equally evident is a desperation at the realisation that father and son are all alone in

Lutyens8217; cold and increasingly friendless Delhi. Like Macbeth and his Lady, Natwar and Jagat walk on a phantom stage, stripping their dignity with each step they take, worthy of, at once, mock and pity, silently invoking the 8220;perfumes of Arabia8221;8212;or the hydrocarbons of Iraq.

After Sonia8217;s decision to sack Natwar from the CSC, there is only one route for the prime minister8212;he must expel India8217;s most infamous non-contractual beneficiary from the Union cabinet. As he is moved out by the political equivalent of nightclub bouncers, Natwar should perhaps be reminded of Cromwell8217;s stinging goodbye to the Long Parliament in 1653: 8220;You have been sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!8221;