Congress puts Natwar in suspended animation

NEW DELHI: The five-member disciplinary action committee of the Congress has decided to suspend former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh from the party's primary membership for six years.

The decision was taken at a late-night meeting of the committee, headed by former Kerala chief minister AK Antony.

Singh has been suspended for bringing disrepute to the party and for misusing his position as the leader of its goodwill delegation to Iraq to further the business interests of his son Jagat Singh’s cousin, Andaleeb Sehgal, and his company, Hamdan Exports.

The committee, which met at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi late on Tuesday night, took an hour to arrive at its decision.

A copy of the suspension notice was sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who returned late in the evening from Kanpur.

A Congress spokesman said a notice will shortly be issued to Singh, telling him to explain why he should not be expelled from the party.

For now, the decision to suspend rather than expel Natwar Singh means that he will continue to be bound by the party’s whips in Parliament and will not be able to join any other political party without giving up his Rajya Sabha seat.

Natwar Singh remained incommunicado on Tuesday as the party primed itself for action, with a spokesman making it clear that the leadership had taken note of Singh’s actions and statements in the past few days.

The former minister gave Parliament a miss, refused to appear before the media, and generally kept his counsel.