Sunday, December 4 2005 18:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Union Minister K Natwar Singh, who is in the thick of Volcker controversy, today (Dec 4, 2005) ruled out his resignation from the cabinet saying such a step would look like 'admission of guilt.'

Referring to media speculation about why he has not resigned, Singh in a statement said, "It is not because of any love of office that I am not resigning. To resign now would look, to many people, as an admission of guilt."

Asserting that he was not guilty of any wrong-doing in law or spirit, Singh said, "I refuse to sacrifice myself."

He said he was aware if he resigned it would not stop with it. "The opposition will use my resignation to further tarnish the reputation of the Congress party. I will not let this happen."

Singh termed as 'not true' the allegation that he added the name of his son Jagat Singh and his friend Andaleeb Sehgal to the official Congress delegation that visited Baghdad in 2001.

"I had no authority to do so. The Congress delegation consisted of P Shivshankar, A R Antulay, Aniel Matherani and myself. The AICC paid for our travel. Jagat's ticket was not bought by the AICC," he added.