Exit route readied for Natwar

By Sondip Bhattacharya

The dirty politics of Indian variety is in full glare, and the blame game to knockout the former Foreign minister K. Natwar Singh is being played with great precision. It is altogether a different proposition who will win or lose the battle. In the process the third week of the monsoon session of Parliament got off to a tumultuous start with a charged-up Opposition stalling proceeding in the two Houses over the Pathak authority report's leak and the clean chit given to the Congress. The controversial report, along with the ATR, were, expectedly, tabled in the two Houses - in the Lok Sabha, by finance minister P Chidambaram, and, in the Rajya Sabha, by his deputy P K Bansal - amidst uproarious scenes, with the BJP and its allies railing against the ruling coalition over the leakage and the reprieve granted to the Congress party.

Opposition leaders were quick to describe the report, as well as the ATR, as a sham, produced to protect the Congress. The latter too had been named as a beneficiary of the Iraqi oil-for-food programme, but had been 'let off' on the grounds that "there was not a shred of evidence to link the party to the said transactions. Mr. Natwar Singh, on the other hand, stood implicated for "influencing and facilitating" the execution of the oil contracts.

Natwar Singh seems to be striking the right notes in his wooing of the Left. Spouting anti-American sentiments, Congress leader is castigating the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Iran vote and the "pro-US" foreign policy. The Left, obviously, seems ready to tango with him.

Mr. Singh has even started a whisper campaign that the Manmohan Singh government, at Washington's behest, was targeting him for taking an anti-US nuclear deal and feels it is against India's interests, like the Marxist parties, Mr. Singh opposed the Iran vote, and in tandem with them, is alleging that the UPA government has gone soft on the US and is diluting India's non-aligned policy. Mr. Singh, who has been meeting leaders of the CPM and CPI in a bid to get their backing on his privilege notice against the PM over leakage of the Pathak Committee report, is alleging a conspiracy against him by some senior ministers, and is claming that his name was included in the Volcker report much later.

The CPM leader Sitaram Yechury says that the manner in which the report has been leaked calls for a privilege motion. However, he said it was for the presiding officers to decide whether the notices should be admitted. Mr. Yechury also said that the Volcker probe was not taken seriously by several countries. He reiterated that while the former minister was exonerated of corruption charges, if there was a case of misuse of office, it was for the Congress to deal with it.

He also reminded the government of its assurance on probing all beneficiaries of the food-for-oil programme, including non-political entities like Reliance. The Rajya Sabha member demanded that the government give a time-frame and "tangible and concrete" directions to the Enforcement Directorate, CBDT and CBEC to complete their probe into the findings of the Pathak Inquiry Authority.

The Congress leadership has indicated that it was on the verge of acting against Mr. Natwar Singh, who stood by his privilege motion against the prime minister. The AICC may, however, tactically link the action against Mr. Singh to his other acts of 'impropriety' and 'indiscipline' - including his indictment by the Pathak commission and the ongoing probes, as well as his recent 'breach of a Congress whip' in the Rajya Sabha.

On his part, Mr. Singh struck a belligerent note by dashing off a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, saying that he was not being allowed by Congress MPs to speak and he would retaliate by not allowing the prime minister to speak. Ms Sonia Gandhi is holding meeting with top party leaders amid signals that suspension of Mr. Singh was imminent. Mr. Singh's hardening of stand came even as some of his colleagues were trying to save him by persuading him to withdraw his motion.

While Mr. Singh is maintaining that his motion was in line with his rights as MP, Congress leaders say his open defiance against the prime minister amounted to gross 'indiscipline,' making his continuation in the party untenable. However, there is a view that taking action by citing his motion alone may not be politically and technically correct. Adding to the Congress' ire was Mr. Singh holding another round of talks with some BJP and JD (U) leaders on Indo-US nuclear deal.

While parliamentary affairs minister PR Dasmunshi conceded that Mr. Singh had the technical right to press for the motion, he quickly added that he was extremely disappointed over his decision. He said Mr. Singh did not even respond to a telephone call from him. "Maybe he finds my voice not as good as Amar Singh's these days."

Those who favour action against Mr. Singh on the grounds that his decision to hobnob with rivals of the Congress to target the prime minister has made his continuance in the party untenable, however, advocate a two-pronged strategy to crack down on him: They say that since the Pathak panel has found Mr. Singh and his son misusing their position by writing letters to get oil contracts for relatives, he should be suspended pending inquiry that have been ordered by the government in its ATR. Secondly, they claim that Mr. Singh had "failed to turn up in the Rajya Sabha to vote on the recent debate on the office of profit issue, violating a party whip.

Even Natwar Singh has his uses. Opponents of the UPA government have discovered a tool in the former foreign minister to embarrass the prime minister and Congress. That explains the support provided by Samajwadi Party, AIADMK and TDP to the privilege motion. The NDA has also joined issue with the government and wants Manmohan Singh to apologise for the alleged 'leak' of the Pathak report. Justice Pathak's report and the government's Action Taken Report are incidental to the ongoing drama in Parliament. Of course, Parliament needs to take note of an official report making its way to newsrooms before it is tabled in the House. Natwar may spot a foreign hand in the alleged 'leak', even if enterprising journalists have been routinely bringing inquiry reports to the public domain before MPs get to debate it. That apart, the Opposition, especially SP, has realised the nuisance value of Natwar's outbursts against the Pathak inquiry, and the Volcker report before that. The Pathak inquiry has unearthed evidence of Natwar using his office, as chief of Congress's foreign affairs cell, to help beneficiaries of the Iraq oil-for-food deal. Natwar's allegation that he is being targeted for opposing the US-India deal has got him some sympathy in the Left quarter. SP is nudging him to speak against Congress at the risk of getting expelled from the party. Natwar is incapable of attracting or transferring votes but can certainly embellish SP's newly acquired anti-imperialist postures. That is, if SP is interested in extending the anti-US rhetoric beyond its Muslim constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

Natwar may not hold much threat to the UPA government. However, Congress should take note of the slow consolidation of political forces against the government. The Left isn't all that happy with Manmohan's foreign policy. It is willing to make common cause with Natwar to question the rationale of New Delhi's engagement with Washington. A consensus has eluded the government on OBC reservations in central educational institutions. DMK may be the only UPA ally so far to demand reservations at one go in IITs but more parties can be expected to join. There is resentment within Congress and among sympathetic civil society groups on the party's economic agenda. The emerging situation calls for Congress leadership to reach out to friends as well as the cadre and consolidate support to ward off any potential threat to the Government. (INAV)