Natwar looks at life beyond Cong

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New Delhi: "Sarfaroshi ke tamana ab humare dil mein hai." This is what Natwar Singh had to say off his fate.

Time is running out for the former external affairs minister.

First the accusation against the Finance Minister of targetting him, then the privilege notice against the Prime Minister himself - is Natwar already looking at life beyond the Congress party?

"I will say that I have very good relations with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has been very good to me and I am not going to say anything against him or the Congress party or the Congress President Sonia Gandhi. I am only questioning the propriety of the institution called the Prime Minister's Office," said Natwar Singh

During the day Natwar kept on sending conflicting signals. Many within the Congress are seeing this as flip flop by a politician fighting with his back to the wall.

One reason for that is that the Pathak panel report. Tabled in Parliament, the report has caught Natwar on the backfoot.

In the letters reproduced in the Pathak Panel report Natwar admits he alongwith Andaleeb Sehgal was there for the meetings with the Iraqi oil minister.

Till now he has maintained that he only wrote letters of introduction and was not present for the meetings.

"For him to have been associated with the Congress party for so many years and for him having done this - this a question that he should ask himself," says Science and Technology Minister, Kapil Sibbal.

Thats not all. In the action taken report also filed in Parliament, its clear that Andaleeb Sehgal and Aditya Khanna had accepted oil vouchers. It's also been stated that the Enforcement Directorate and the CBDT will now take these investigations further.

Natwar Singh's association with the Congress party and the Gandhi family dates back to more than five decades.

Maybe that's the reason why Natwar Singh has been upset and disappointed with the fact that no one - either from the party or from the Gandhi family - has come out in his support.

But in the tough game of Indian politics, nothing can ever be ruled out. Natwar Singh's 'imminent ouster' from the Congress party could well turn out to be one such thing.

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