Indian Ambassador to Croatia Anil Mathrani's disclosure that former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh knew about the oil deal and was in fact very much party to the business dealings of Andaleeb Sehgal's company, in which his son Jagat Singh had commercial interests, rocked Parliament proceedings on Friday.
Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day without conducting any business as determined Opposition members demanded the arrest of former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh and a CBI probe into the matter.
The proceedings of the House, which met at 3:30 pm after three adjournments earlier, was signed off for the day after Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan sensed the mood of an unrelenting opposition.
As soon as the House assembled for the day, Bharatiya Janata Party members, led by Leader of the Opposition in the House Jaswant Singh and Sushma Swaraj demanded that a first information report be registered against Natwar immediately and that Prime minister give a clarification in the House without delay, in the wake of Mathrani's revelations to a private TV channel.
Mathrani was a former Secretary in the All India Congress Committee Foreign Affairs Department and a member of the delegation led by Natwar which went to Iraq in January 2001.
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"The finance minister had promised that action will be taken against Natwar if evidence against him was found. Now no less a person than the Indian Ambassador to Croatia was saying things that clearly show Natwar Singh's involvement in the oil for food scam," said Swaraj.
Jaswant Singh said it was a very serious matter as the country's external affairs minister was involved.
"These are things that go beyond an individual. It is very strange that the prime minister has not said a single word to clarify the position after first giving a certificate to the former Minister," he said.
When the House re-assembled at noon, Sushma and Murli Manohar Joshi again demanded an immediate statement by Dr Singh, disrupting the proceedings of the House.
At one point of time, vociferous BJP Members took the name of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, sparking off vehement protests from Congress members.
As acrimonious scenes were witnessed and with members in no mood to relent to the plea of Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for order, the House was adjourned till 2:30 pm only to be adjourned for an hour again.
The Lok Sabha too was adjourned for the day amid uproarious scenes on the Volcker issue.
Demanding the resignation of Sonia Gandhi, Opposition members stormed the well of the House and started shouting slogans -- "Ab to yeh spasht hai, Sonia Gandhi Bhrasht hai (its clear now Sonia Gandhi is corrupt).
Congress members also shouted back and amidst din the Deputy Speaker adjourned the House for the day.
The House earlier witnessed two adjournments following claims of the Indian envoy to Croatia on the issue.
The issue was raised by Leader of Opposition L K Advani.
Mathrani's claim that oil coupons in the Congress party's name had been handed over to Natwar Singh, who is still a minister in the government, nailed the lie, Advani said, adding, "We want to go to the bottom of the entire episode. I do not want Natwar to be made a scapegoat of the scam. He has to go. But the whole Congress party is involved in it."
BJP-led opposition members forced the adjournment of the House for 15 minutes to begin with and then till 02:00 pm.
Observing what Mathrani had said was shocking, Advani said it had become clear that everyone in the government knew about it all along.
"Natwar Singh exploited an invitation to Congress to send a delegation to Iraq," he said.
Advani criticised the prime minister for not making any statement on the issue despite holding the external affairs ministry portfolio.
It is only after Mathrani has spoken that Dr Singh is thinking of making a statement.
"It is an outrageous insult of the House and the country," he said.
