I won’t grovel, says Natwar

Javed M Ansari & Sanghita Singh.

NEW DELHI: In an interview with DNA on Saturday, former external affairs minister Natwar Singh, indicted in the Iraq oil-for-food scam, says he cannot understand how he lost favour with the Congress. Excerpts from the interview:

Your party seems to be washing its hands off you.
It baffles me. I have an impeccable record, I have served with honesty and dignity. No one was closer to Sonia Gandhi than me. And I will not say one word against her.

Long before the Ambikas of the world arrived I knew the family, for over 60 years. I am completely loyal.

Indira Gandhi gave me the Padma Bhushan; I have been a minister and a member of the CWC (Congress Working Committee). In the last eight months I have met Sonia Gandhi thrice but we did not discuss the Volcker issue.

I was with her in Moscow, and I remember telling her then that if the Volcker report comes out, Kofi Annan will have to resign. When I came back to India, I got a rude shock.

Do you feel you have been left in the lurch by the Congress leadership?
I have no clue why this is happening. The leadership should have given me the benefit of doubt having known me so long. If people expect me to go down on bended knees to cringe and grovel, I will not do that.

I feel aggrieved that in a great party like the Congress, something like this has happened with a senior member. I am a proud man and I will not crumble or cringe. What more can they do to me? They have already done all they could.

You sound extremely bitter with your party.
Not bitter, but certainly aggrieved. This is not something to rejoice. All that has happened is unpleasant and disagreeable. But public opinion is in my favour. I am going to go on fighting and will not quit the party. If they want to throw me out they can.

But there is talk of your joining the Samajwadi Party. Is that an option?

It is no secret that they approached me last year. They even kept a Rajya Sabha seat vacant till the last moment.

Several others have been in touch but I have no intentions of leaving the Congress. But if they throw me out it’s different. However, all options are open as they should be. If nothing else, it will be said that here was a man in such a great party who stood up for himself.

You have blamed Finance Minister P Chidabaram for your Volcker troubles. Why do you think you are being targeted?

I have no clue. The ED (Enforcement Directorate) people told me, “You think we would have put a person of your stature and seniority through this? We are sorry, but we have orders.”

Who gave the orders?

Well the ED functions under the finance ministry… I also want to know who gave the orders. I am not saying anything, but I too, want answers. There has been constant leak of information from the ED to the media. How is that happening?

I met the finance minister at a common friend’s house and was told that the whole issue would be sorted out in two weeks once I appear before the ED. The day I went there the entire media had been informed and was present. It’s amazing, the way information has been leaked.

What does Chidambaram have to do with this?
Take the Pathak committee report. The Prime Minister says he did not even open it and he passed it on to the finance minister.

The same day it is leaked to the media. Isn’t it too much of a coincidence? Again, I want to know.

The Pathak Committee has found you guilty of misusing your position.

Pathak says there is no evidence of either my son or me taking money. We both stand exonerated. He has given a political judgment, not a judicial one. Thousands of politicians in this country write letters recommending people. That’s not a crime.

Let anyone of the 700 MPs come forward and say they have not written similar letters. We do it all the time. Let them show me a letter where I said that give my son or me oil coupons. Yet, they want to hang me… It is amazing.