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Indian minister to quit over Iraq scandal - reports
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-06 15:06
India's suspended foreign minister will quit the cabinet within days,
targeted by opposition parties after he was named in the Iraq oil-for-food
scandal, media reports said on Tuesday.
Natwar Singh was stripped of his post a month ago but remained in the
cabinet as a minister without portfolio after being named in the Volcker report
on irregularities in the United Nations program for Iraq.
Singh has told his Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi he will hand his
resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- they are not related -- after
the prime minister returns from a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, several
newspapers reported.
Gandhi dropped Singh from the party steering committee after he told her of
his plans in a half-hour meeting on Monday, a sign his resignation would be
accepted, The Indian Express said.
Singh, one of the most senior people named in the Volcker report, could not
be contacted for comment.
Both Singh and the Congress party were named in an annex to the report
detailing beneficiaries of oil allocations made by the government of former
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
The issue has caused a political furor, with the opposition pressing for
Singh's dismissal and a full-scale inquiry.
The government has announced a judicial investigation. The prime minister has
taken over the foreign affairs portfolio with the help of two junior ministers.
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