Friday, April 28 2006 17:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Indore: Leader of Opposition L K Advani today (Apr 28, 2006) demanded filing of a CBI case against former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and Congress party in the oil-for-food scam and that Sonia Gandhi should also be questioned.

"Like others connected with the oil-for-food scam, Sonia Gandhi should also be questioned," he told reporters, on the 17th day of his Bharat Suraksha Yatra here.

Referring to Natwar Singh's reported statement that he was being made a scapegoat in the scam, he said neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Sonia Gandhi had so far broken their silence on the Congress being separately mentioned by the Volcker report as a non-contractual beneficiary of the programme.

Their silence could only be construed as admission of guilt, he observed.

"It is now clear that, having made Natwar Singh a scapegoat, the Congress wants to put a lid on its own involvement in the scandal," he alleged.

Seeking registration of a CBI case against Natwar Singh and the Congress under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act and the Prevention of Corruption Act, Advani said such a move would enable the CBI to send letters to Swiss and other foreign governments to track the money trail and pinpoint the end beneficiaries.