Friday, December 2 2005 13:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Claims by Indian envoy to Croatia Aneil Mathrani that K Natwar Singh had taken Iraqi oil-for-food coupons created uproar in the Lok Sabha today (Nov 02, 2005) with a determined Opposition seeking to put the Congress in the dock asserting that merely making the Union Minister a scapegoat would not suffice.

The issue was raised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani in the wake of allegations by Mathrani, who was a former Secretary in the AICC Foreign Affairs Department and a member of the delegation led by Singh, which went to Iraq in January 2001.

Mathrani's claim that oil coupons in the name of Congress party had been handed over to Natwar Singh, who is still a Minister in the government, nailed the lie, Advani said, adding "we want to go to the bottom of the entire episode.

"I do not want Natwar Singh to be made a scapegoat of the scam. He has to go. But the whole Congress party is involved in it," Advani said, prompting the BJP-led Opposition members to troop into the well of the House.

Storming the well, they chanted slogans "ab to yeh spasht hai, Sonia Gandhi bhrasht hai (now it is clear that Sonia Gandhi is corrupt)", forcing the adjournment of the House by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee first for 15 minutes and then till 1400 hours.

Observing what Mathrani had said was "shocking", Advani said it had become clear that everyone in the government knew about it all along.

"Natwar Singh exploited an invitation to Congress to send a delegation to Iraq", he said.

Advani criticised the Prime Minister for not making any statement on tbe issue despite holding the External Affairs Ministry portfolio.

It is only after Mathrani has spoken, the Prime Minister is thinking of making a statement. "It is an outrageous insult of the House and the country", he said.

Summing up the interview given by Mathrani to a weekly, Advani said the Indian envoy had claimed that the oil coupons were handed over to Natwar Singh.

Advani said Natwar Singh had used the trip to give the coupons to his son Jagat and Andaleeb Sehgal of Hamdan Exports.