India's foreign minister stood aside on Monday amid a growing political storm after he was named in an independent report into irregularities in the United Nations' oil-for-food programme for Iraq.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take over Natwar Singh's duties ahead of a key regional summit in Bangladesh this weekend, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said, adding that Natwar Singh would remain in the Cabinet pending the outcome of inquiries.
Sanjaya Baru, the spokesman for the Premier, said Manmohan Singh would attend the Dhaka summit as planned. Former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker conducted a year-long investigation into the UN's $64 billion humanitarian programme for Iraq, finding that 2,000 companies around the world fed Saddam Hussein's regime about $2 billion either in direct bribes or surcharges on oil sales through the scheme.
Natwar Singh has denied any wrongdoing and any involvement in oil deals with Iraq. A government statement said he asked the Prime Minister to relieve him of his portfolio. But the political heat is not likely to subside soon.
"This is not at all acceptable. He should quit (from the Cabinet)," political commentator Kuldip Nayar said. "He still remains a member of government and this is a wrong message."
Volcker's independent inquiry said politicians in several countries were also given oil vouchers that could be sold for a commission in return for helping Iraq's efforts to have UN sanctions lifted.
Both Natwar Singh and the Congress party that leads India's federal coalition were named in the Volcker report and the government has launched two inquiries into its findings.
Natwar Singh, who has been under pressure from the opposition to quit, was not immediately available for comment on Monday. The Congress, bristling after its naming in the report, has written to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, asking for sources of evidence relating to it.
"The Congress Party wishes to unequivocally and categorically state that it had not authorised any company or firm or individual to represent or act on behalf of the Congress Party in any oil-for-food contract," the letter by the party said.
Analysts were unimpressed. "The Congress is also in the dock and should face this crisis squarely and with much more transparency," Nayar said.
Seizing on the Volcker report, the BJP and its allies gave a memorandum to President Abdul Kalam on Monday demanding Natwar Singh's removal from the federal cabinet.
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