Friday, December 2 2005 16:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Government today (Dec 2,2005) termed as 'bizarre' the opposition demand for resignation of Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the wake of fresh claims in connection with the Volcker controversy and said the Enforcement Directorate was already looking into the alleged payoffs in Iraq's oil-for-food programme.

"The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has informed the Government that investigations are on the right track and proceeding expeditiously. They will conclude the investigation soon," Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters outside Parliament.

He said the ED would also probe into the statements attributed to India's Ambassador to Croatia Aniel Mathrani, aired by a news channel and later published in a magazine.

"The ED is in possession of facts and documents. Investigation will also take into cognisance the statements attributed to Mathrani," Chidambaram said.

He termed as 'bizarre' Leader of the Opposition L K Advani's demand for the resignation of Gandhi in the wake of Mathrani's claim that Natwar Singh and Congress party were allotted oil coupons by Saddam Hussein regime.

Chidambaram said the Treasury benches were surprised at the opposition remarks in the House asking the Prime Minister to make a statement on the issue on Monday after pressing for it today itself.

"First they demanded that the Prime Minister make a statement on the issue today. We were taken by surprise when the Leader of the Opposition later said they wanted the Prime Minister to make a statement on Monday," he said.

"Opposition was surprised at the speed at which the Government acted," he said.