'Congress Party Is Not Letting Me Speak...'

He started the day with a teaser: "Aage Aage dekhiye hota hai kya (watch out whathappens next)," when asked by reporters outsideParliament house whether he would press for the privilege motion but refused tosay anything more, other than confirming that he had moved a notice for thesame. 

As the day progressed, his defiance was more pronounced. "Natwar will never become weak. I have nevercommitted any wrong. I will fight inside and outside Parliament," Singhtold reporters outside his residence.

"Congress party is not letting me speak inParliament. We will not let Manmohan Singh speak. I will not surrender. Mystruggle will continue," he said after a meeting with BJP leader YashwantSinha, Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and JD(U)'s Digvijay Singh.

Alleging that he had become the victim of a "verybig international conspiracy", Singh claimed the Pathak Inquiry Authorityhad "sacrificed" him and his son Jagat.

"The government is vicious and vindictive and I am going to fight itout," Natwar Singh said adding "Today, I have written a letter to VicePresident and Chairman of Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on thisissue".

Besides seeking permission to place in the House a copyof the affidavits he had filed before the Pathak Authority, Singh in the letterwanted to give a personal explanation at the earliest. "I want to vindicatemy reputation as member of the House," Singh added.

He also claimed that no affidavits were attached withthe final report of the Pathak Inquiry Authority.

Describing the findings of Pathak as "politicallybiased", the Congress leader said the report contained"contradictions".

While stating that there was no material to show thathe had derived any financial or personal benefit from the contract, the reportstill maintained that he was a non-contractual beneficiary in so far as heinfluenced and facilitated the procurement of the contract that fructified,Singh said.

"This has caused avoidable damage to my reputationand prestige as a Member of this House," he said in the letter.

"The privilege notice is against the PrimeMinister of India, which is an office, an institution. There is nothing personalagainst Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," he said.

Natwar Singh said that alongwith the Congress Party heshould also have been given a clean chit in the matter.

Singh said he was not upset with Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and added he would not say anything against Congress PresidentSonia Gandhi or against the party.

"It is a question of propriety. There was only onecopy of the Pathak report and within minutes it was all over the press," hesaid.

Asked whether Gandhi had introduced him to the SaddamHussain regime, he said: "It is not true".

Reacting to queries on whether he stands by hisdecision to move a privilege notice against the Prime Minister, Singh said thefate of the notice would now be decided by Rajya Sabha chairman.

"It is now for the chairman to decide. If heallows me to speak, I will speak... I will abide by his decision," he said.

But when asked if was concerned about what theCongress party might do as a disciplinary measure, he said, "They cannothang me in the air."

Asked whether he had introduced Andaleeb Sehgal to theSaddam Hussain regime, he said there was nothing wrong in it and added that thethen Petroleum Minister Ram Naik had also introduced many companies to the Iraqigovernment.

On the issue of introduction of Indian companies to foreign authorities, heclaimed "129 Indian firms had been introduced by (former BJP minister) RamNaik... Is there anything wrong in that?

"Our ambassadors also do this job and so doministers. Recently (US President George) Bush had come and wanted India to buyBoeing aircraft. (French President Jacques) Chirac wanted to sell Airbusplanes...(British Prime Minister Tony) Blair had told us to buy tanks," headded.

'He Had A Good Relationship With Sonia Gandhi'

Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh said theimpasse over the Pathak Authority report in Parliament will continue tillCongress allows Natwar Singh to speak in the House.

"We want that Congress allows its own leaderNatwar Singh to speak in the House. We want that the House decorum bemaintained. But the impasse will continue till Natwar is not allowed tospeak," he said after the meeting.

Rejecting the view that Samajwadi Party was trying touse Natwar Singh against Congress, Amar Singh, as is his wont, quoted a filmsong "Kuchh to log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna, wokahenge (People will always say something, that's their nature). But Natwar Singh is very mucha member of Congress party," he said.

"He was not the External Affairs minister at thattime. All that he had was a good relationship with Sonia Gandhi. So, ifCongress is innocent, Natwar is also innocent," he said.

The SP leader said it was unfortunate that Pathak'sreport was leaked to media first.

Noting that Natwar knew "inside facts" of thenuclear deal between India and the US, he said the agreement was also discussedduring the meeting.