Saturday, December 3 2005 16:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Putting up a brave face in the wake of purported remarks about him by India's envoy to Croatia Aneil Matherani, Union Minister K Natwar Singh today said he would "face" the "struggle" which has evolved because of the latest developments in the Volcker issue.

"There is a struggle, we will face it," he told reporters here when asked whether he found himself in a situation of "struggle" like Mangal Pandey, the hero of India's first indepedence struggle of 1857, because of the latest developments.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a function where he released the book 'Mangal Pandey' on the freedom fighter authored by Amresh Mishra.

Singh refused to make any further comments, including whether he would send a legal notice to Matherani for comments attributed to him (Matherani) by a news magazine. The minister had yesterday said comments attributed to Matherani were "outrageous" and "malicious" and that he was considering legal action.

Matherani has since said that the "off-the-record" comments were "misrepresented" and "out of context".