New Delhi: Union Minister Natwar Singh has finally decided to step down from the Cabinet. On Monday night, he met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and conveyed his intention.
But, Natwar Singh's family is clearly unhappy over being made the scapegoat.
Natwar has not made a statement since Monday, but his son Jagat Singh lashed out at "some intellectuals" in the Congress party for "mishandling the entire Volcker episode".
"My father has not been asked to resign. Has anybody said that Mr Natwar Singh should resign? Has the PM said he should resign?" says Jagat.
"The PM himself had said in Parliament that there is no need for Mr Natwar Singh to resign. Until proven guilty, he is innocent."
"Who has asked him to resign? Yes Mrs Gandhi asked him yesterday and he has accepted it gracefully."
Jagat also defended himself, saying there is no evidence that he was involved in the oil-for-food scam.
Jagat, whose trip to Iraq in January 2001 during a Congress delegation's visit to the country and is under the scanner, also said the Enforcement Directorate had not summoned him for questioning.
"I have not been questioned by the ED yet and if I will be, it will be a routine investigation because the ED has to investigate into any kind of violation," he said.
Though Jagat doesn't blame Sonia Gandhi for the unfair treatment meted out to his father, he is unhappy with some Congress leaders in the working committee.
"Unfortunately, and I' m sorry to say our party has also had some misunderstanding," he says.
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Blaming the media for "fanning the flames", Jagat says, "Its unfortunate that without any documentary evidence to suggest that Natwar Singh or Jagat Singh or Mathrani or anybody in the delegation of the Congress party has dealt in or recieved money or given money. Its nothing, its an allegation."
Reiterating his father's stand, Jagat says his family is ready to sacrifice for the party.
Jagat wanted to know why the documents brought back by Virendra Dayal, a special envoy appointed by the Government to gather evidence in New York, were lying in a locker in a bank on Parliament Street.
"If the documents had clearly named me or my father, then why were they not handed over to Justice Pathak immediately to establish our guilt?"
"The fact that the documents were not given to Justice Pathak and also the fact that the ED chief is going to Jordan and Baghdad for further investigations only proves that Dayal found no proof against us in New York," he says.
Meanwhile, party spokesperson Anand Sharma said Natwar Singh would put in his papers after he met the Prime Minister on his return from Moscow on Wednesday.
Natwar Singh was stripped of his external affairs portfolio earlier. The Volcker report on UN oil-for-food scam in Iraq accuses him of being one of the beneficiaries.
After refusing to quit, Natwar Singh gave his resignation letter to AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Monday night, after party members made it clear that they wanted him to step down.
In a meeting that lasted half-an-hour, he said, he was quitting to save the party from further embarrassment. Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma later confirmed the news.
(With CNN-IBN correspondent Prarthna Gahilote)
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