Sunday, December 4 2005 17:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Hinting at a conspiracy against his father and Union Minister Natwar Singh, Jagat Singh today (Dec 04, 2005) said the statements of Aniel Matherani had created confusion.

Jagat said he was not part of the official four-member Congress delegation led by Natwar Singh to Iraq in 2001 but had accompanied it in an individual capacity as Youth Congress leader to assist his ailing father and the then Youth Congress President R Surjewala knew about it.

"I was not a member of the delegation. I went with my father who was not well and wanted me to accompany him. I was then Youth Congress General Secretary and I thought it was a good opportunity to visit the country and interact with leaders of the youth wing of Baath Party (the then ruling party of Iraq)," he told reporters here.

Jagat said he had gone on his own and expenses for the travel and his lodging were borne by his father. He added that Surjewala had been informed by him that he was going to Iraq along with the Congress delegation. Surjewala had endorsed it, he said.

Natwar's son said he had gone with the delegation to Jordan and then to Baghdad and ridiculed Matherani's statement that he had joined the delegation in Jordan.

Asked whether his close friend Andaleeb Sehgal had also joined the delegation, he denied it.

Attacking Matherani, India's Ambassador to Croatia and a close friend of Natwar Singh, Jagat said Matherani's statement had created confusion as he had been changing versions.

"There is a question mark on several things which he has said in an interview to a news magazine," Jagat said.

Jagat stated that Matherani had initially said there was no scam but afterwards he retracted.

To a question, Jagat claimed that there was a conspiracy against his father and said that Enforcement Directorate could be questioning Matherani about his statement and the reasons behind it.