Thursday, November 3 2005 18:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Mounting pressure, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Nov 3, 2005) accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of giving a clean chit to External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and demanded his dismissal, registration of a criminal case and investigation in the wake of a UN probe report.

Asserting that the issue pertained to 'national honour and self-respect', the party threatened to take it from 'Parliament to the streets' (Sansad Se Sadak Tak) and has called a meeting of its General Secretaries here tomorrow to draw up a strategy for the same.

"It is bad enough that the Minister who represents India in world affairs is implicated in a murky international scandal. What compounds the offence is that he continues to remain External Affairs Minister with your full backing", party General Secretary Arun Jaitley said in a three-page letter to the Prime Minister.

The BJP leader said the Prime Minister's comment that the UN sponsored Volcker inquiry report contained insufficient evidence to warrant any adverse conclusion 'constitutes a total disregard of available facts'.

"By rubbishing the report to score a narrow political point, you are mocking an important initiative to make the United Nations more accountable. Your defence of an errant colleague has tarnished the quality of our democracy", Jaitley said.

Terming as 'ridiculous' Singh's defence of the Minister, party Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at a press conference accused the 'ad-hoc Prime Minister and Super Prime Minister Sonia Gandhi of protecting the guilty and justifying the scam.' Highlighting a few 'coincidences' in the Volcker report, Jaitley said a sum of US$ 748,540 collected by Masfield AG as 'illegal surcharge' being deposited by Andleeb Sehgal and his company M/S Hamdan Export into accounts in the Jordan National Bank.

Hamdan Export and Sehgal also undertook a job when the specified non-contractual beneficiary is Natwar Singh and the Congress party, he said.

He also referred to the 'coincidence' of Hamdan Export and Sehgal being the "link" between Iraqi recipients of the surcharge and Masefield AG of Switzerland as also the families of Jagat Singh (Natwar's son) and Sehgal being on the 'most intimate of terms'.

Jaitley also drew the Prime Minister's attention to Jagat Singh and Sehgal travelling to Jordan around the time payments were made into accounts in the Jordan National Bank and also of both the father and son travelling together to Iraq.

"There are far too many coincidences in this story. Some of them could do with some explanation. In any case, there is a sufficient body of evidence to warrant a review of your initial clean chit to Natwar Singh", he said.

Alleging there was prima facie 'compelling evidence to suggest that Natwar Singh allowed himself to be used as a lobbyist' for Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, he said, "The charges need to be investigated fully by an independent body. However, pending such an inquiry, the Volcker Committee's indictment is sufficient ground for demanding Natwar Singh's resignation from the Government".

"Natwar Singh today stands tainted and seriously compromised. A person indicted by a UN report for financial impropriety cannot uphold India on the world stage. His credentials will always be a suspect", he said.