Jagat: Hitting back

New Delhi, Dec. 16: Jagat Singh, the son of former external affairs minister K. Natwar Singh, told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that his visit to Baghdad in 2001 was okayed by former Youth Congress president R.S. Surjewala.

Jagat was quizzed for the second consecutive day for over three hours by the ED in the Iraqi oil-payoff scam. Later, he circulated copies of a letter dated January 4, 2001, which was signed by Surjewala and spoke of his intention to consolidate India’s ties with Iraq.

Addressed to “whomsoever it may concern”, the letter said: “I send greetings on behalf of the Indian Youth Congress. Jagat Singh, general secretary of the IYC, the bearer of this letter, will be interacting with you in an effort to develop and strengthen the ties between our great organisations. We would also look forward to seeing you in India to pursue our common ideas and goals on secularism and socialism. We also look forward to the day that sanctions against your great nation are lifted.”

Surjewala had earlier said Jagat went to Iraq in his “personal capacity” and not with the Youth Congress’s sanction. The former Youth Congress chief, now a minister in the Haryana government, today stuck to his stand.

Agencies quoted him as telling reporters in Chandigarh: “Youth Congress has never sent any delegation to Iraq. Of course, he (Jagat) was my general secretary. Natwar Singh was in charge of the foreign affairs cell (of the Congress) and Jagat could have gone in his individual capacity.”

As the Congress looked like it was tripping again on the Volcker oil slick, AICC general secretary Ambika Soni said: “The Justice Pathak committee is investigating the case and so is the ED. Several points are now coming up which were contradicted earlier, and the way people are giving different versions, it is impossible for me to comment.”

Natwar was reticent. “There is a Persian saying that the unspoken word is your slave and the spoken word is your master. I shall follow the example of what the great Persian wrote. So silence is good,” he said.

The BJP said it would consult its Haryana unit before formalising a response. However, sources did not rule out a campaign to demand Surjewala’s resignation.

The CPM urged the government to enlarge the ambit of the Pathak panel probe to investigate the role of a “private oil company” which was allegedly the biggest non-contractual beneficiary in India.