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Amarinder govt finds Iraqi oil slush scam slippery
S P Singh
Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh has learnt in a most unlucky fashion how the
world has become a global village. Something happening at the
United Nations has left Amarinder's leeway channels with 10,
Janpath, currently the fountainhead of political prowess in
India, badly crippled.
Ever since one Mr Volcker started poking
his nose into oil-for-food slush deals, the national audience of
political theatre in India watched with interest the shenanigans
of its deposed foreign minister, Kunwar Natwar Singh, on prime
time TV. And now that the Pathak Inquiry Authority probing the
scam has brought out the misuse of office and power by K.Natwar
Singh for the financial benefit of his son's cousin Andleeb
Sehgal. Natwar wrote to the Saddam Hussein regime letters of
introduction and recommendation to give the young ones contracts
for oil-for-food deals.
 Things
moved at a pace faster than you can say 'Saddam Hussein'. Pathak
report was splashed by the Indian media even before Parliament
could see a copy. Natwar promptly went in for the jugular,
accusing teflon-coated reputation PM Manmohan Singh, of
breaching Parliament's privilege. Congress coterie confabulated
to find that the man who led its foreign policy charge for years
was guilty of gross indiscipline. With equal alacrity, Natwar
too suddenly realised that he has been making friends in all the
wrong places, and now found the support coming more from
Samajwadi Party, literally meaning 'Socialist Party' whose prime
members seem to include Amitabh Bachhan, Anil Ambani, Aishwarya
Rai etc.
But Iraqi oil-for-food scandal affecting
Punjab's Amarinder Singh government? Oh yes! In a country where
nepotism is taken as a force more potent than even perhaps what
Adam Bellow could realise, Amarinder's leverage fulcrum with the
high command was Natwar Singh, the royal brother-in-law of the
Patiala royal scion.
That the brothers-in-law were always
brothers-in-arm within the Congress was never a veiled secret.
Naturally, Akali Dal leader Prakash Singh Badal has launched an
attack more on belief than on information. "How can Amarinder
not be involved?" is his line. That Natwar had immediately come
to relax in the cooler confines of the Moti Mahal when the heat
was on is something that the Akalis will make a lot of noise
about.
Natwar's position as foreign minister was
of immense help when Amarinder straddled the Punjab-to-Punjab
bonhomie turf, creating history by crossing Wagah and later
inviting West Punjab CM Pervez Elahi here. The way the
post-facto permission for a surreptitious trip made in a hurry
to Dubai came was also due to having a brother-in-law calling
the shots in the foreign ministry. When the major topple-Amarinder
offensive launched in 2003 by (now Deputy CM) Rajinder Kaur
Bhattal-led dissidents fizzled out, the credit was being given
to Natwar's behind the scene maneuverings.
Natwar's position as member of the all
powerful Congress Working Committee (CWC) as well as his
proximity to the Gandhi family has always been the brahmastra
for Amarinder and a guarantor of an edge over those eyeing his
job. He lost the Foreign Ministry, then lost the CWC membership,
later the ministry itself, and is now being kicked out of the
Congress.
When the drama began, Natwar had famously
said he didn't even know who Volcker was. Volcker, for the
record, said he never knew Natwar. So Amarinder cannot accuse
the scam-buster. We are sure he has not even heard of Amarinder
Singh, but the damage that his sleuthing has finally done to the
Congress government facing elections is a few months can be
crucial. After all, a whole wide flank at 10, Janpath is now
left uncovered.
August 8, 2006
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