Natwar being made scapegoat: Advani

Charging the government with the misuse of power to exonerate the Congress in the oil-for-food scam...

Charging the government with the misuse of power to exonerate the Congress in the oil-for-food scam, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani said here today that 8216;8216;prima facie, it appears, former External Affairs minister Natwar Singh had been made a scapegoat for the entire Volcker scandal.8217;8217;

Advani said NDA leaders would meet on Monday morning to devise an alliance strategy to corner the UPA government in both Houses of Parliament. The NDA has already mooted the idea of a notice for breach of privilege over the leakage of the R S Pathak Committee report to the media, while Parliament was in session. The BJP leader said a full-fledged debate on the Volcker issue could be possible only after the Pathak report was presented in Parliament. 8216;8216;Let the report be placed in Parliament without any delay.8217;8217;

Asked if he was casting aspersions on the committee by alleging that Natwar Singh had been made a scapegoat, Advani said, 8216;8216;Not at all.8217;8217; Pathak, he pointed out, was a former Chief Justice of India. However, he said the fact was that Natwar Singh did not go to Iraq as a foreign minister. He was not even an MP at the time. He went to Iraq 8216;8216;armed with a letter from the Congress party president to Saddam Hussein.8217;8217; The BJP leader demanded that this letter be made public.

Advani said Natwar Singh and Congress were both listed as beneficiaries of oil coupons by Paul Volcker. 8216;8216;How can they be treated differently?8217;8217;, he asked. The Enforcement Directorate as well as the Pathak Committee, he pointed out, had interrogated Natwar Singh, his son Jagat Singh, Andleeb Sehgal and Aditya Khanna. 8216;8216;We would like to know from the government whether the Pathak Authority and the ED have similarly made queries from Congress president Sonia Gandhi,8217;8217; he said.

However, when asked if Sonia should resign from her post, Advani responded by saying, 8216;8216;I did not say it then, I do not say it now.8217;8217;

Ask Chidambaram about leak: Natwar

New Delhi: Former External Affairs minister Natwar Singh on Friday kept his political options open and said that he alone would decide his future. In an interview to CNN-IBN he said: 8220;I am with the Congress, I have been with the party for decades and am still with the party. But what I will do in the future will be decided by me and me alone.8221;

Singh refused to discuss Sonia Gandhi8217;s role, but targeted a section of the Congress which he said had run an 8221;orchestrated8221; campaign against him. Singling out P Chidambaram, he said: 8220;Ask the finance minister about the leak of the Pathak report. Ask him about the Enforcement directorate8217;s investigations. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel by raising issues like the ownership of a Mercedes by my son Jagat. Have they tracked any money to me?8221; Asked if he was disappointed with the Congress response, he said, 8220;Yes, I am disappointed.8221; Asked if he could join the Samajwadi Party, he said, 8220;I am grateful to Amar Singhji for the offer, but I am still with the Congress.8221;

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The Congress spokesperson said the party has nothing to say until it knows the content of the report. 8220;We will know the content only after it is submitted in Parliament along with the ATR.8221; 8212; ENS