The Bhartiya Janata Party alleged ulterior motives to the announcement of the two probes by the government of India into the report submitted by Paul Volcker.
This report names former external affairs Natwar Singh as a non-contractual beneficiary in the oil for food programme of the previous Iraqi government. The BJP alleges that the Congress party is trying to cover up facts.
Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that the manner in which the United Progressive Alliance government handled the entire situation is not above board.
"Within two days of Natwar's name coming into prominence Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave him a clean chit. The committees anounced so far have no judicial sanction. We are now waiting for the terms of the reference of the committee headed by Justice R S Pathak, former chief justice of India," he said.
He pointed out that the government was delibrately trying to have inquiry conducted in such a manner that right kind of questions are not asked nor are the answers received. Consequently, Jaitley said, the government could tell the public that 'we were keen to get to the bottom of the matter but we did not get assistance from the right quarters'.
Jaitley wondered how Natwar Singh could be kept in the cabinet when the inquest against him is going on.
"I am afraid when the terms of reference are announced, the probe would turn out to the more Hamadan-centric (the firm owned by Andaleep Sehgal, also named in the Volcker report) rather than include everything. The truth has strange ways of manifesting itself and sooner or later we would find that out in weeks to come when more evidence emerges," he said.
