Tuesday, December 6 2005 13:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Embroiled in a controversy over his role in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam, Union Minister Natwar Singh's son Jagat Singh today (Dec 6,2005) said the Enforcement Directorate has not summoned him for questioning and blamed the Congress for 'mishandling' the whole episode.

Jagat, an MLA whose trip to Iraq in January 2001 along with his father during a Congress delegation's visit to that country is under the scanner, said Natwar would step down as promised and lashed out at 'some intellectuals' in the Congress party for baying for his blood.

Asked whether the Enforcement Directorate has summoned him, he replied in the negative and questioned the ambit of the ED's investigation into the issue.

"There is no questioning by the Enforcement Directorate. ED has to investigate into any kind of perfina violations," he told reporters here.

He said anybody was welcome to check his bank accounts. "There is nothing else to the matter. All the Indian businesses in Iraq have not broken any laws," he added.

Jagat said his father, who was stripped of the External Affairs Ministry portfolio after being named a beneficiary in the Iraqi oil-for-food programme by the Volcker Committee, would resign as promised but asserted that "injustice" was meted out to him.

"He is a minister in the Union Cabinet today and he has to hand over his resignation to the Prime Minister. Sonia Gandhi is our supreme leader, but the protocol demands he hands over his resignation to the PM," he said.

"If certain commitments have been made they will be honored. It is not a circus," he added.

Asserting that his father was not guilty and would honor the promise he made to Sonia Gandhi in the interest of the party, Jagat said 'injustice' was meted out to the Union Minister by demanding his resignation.

"This is injustice. My father is not guilty.There is no evidence against him. You are already sending a person to the gallows even before the trial and because my father is a very loyal Congress worker we will abide by what the party says," he said.

"We are ready to sacrifice ourselves for the party. But in the whole controversy, I am sorry to say that there was mishandling on the part of the party," he said.

Jagat backed his claim by citing the former Iraqi Ambassador to India Salah Al Mukthar's comments that neither Natwar nor Jagat was given any oil contracts through the embassy.

Asked about Union Minister Kapil Sibal's statement on Natwar that he should understand the message, he said, "Those people inside the party are in a position of responsibility and they should have better sense."

"If you are doing all this to get rid of Natwar, then you should have asked him to resign. Why did you need to go through this entire drama," he said, adding nobody had earlier asked his father to step down.

"The Prime Minister himself said in Parliament that there is no need to resign until his is proven guilty. Mrs Gandhi asked him yesterday and he has accepted it," he said.

"The sad part is that there are some intellectuals in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) who have no understanding about politics and do not how to run the party," he added.