Natwar Singh fears that he and his family might be jailed and harm can come to his family members including his grandson.
Updated at 7.30pm
NEW DELHI: Hitting back at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh on Sunday said she was behind his recent problems with the Enforcement Directorate in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam and attacked her foreign origins.
Singh fears that he and his family might be jailed and harm can come to his family members including his grandson.
"Everything that the government did against me was on Sonia's direction. I will not blame (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh," he said.
The charges by the 75-year-old career diplomat-turned-politician, a Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist for long comes close on the heels of Gandhi's attack on him in a TV interview three days ago.
Singh was apparently referring to the setting up of an inquiry authority to go into allegations against him and his son in the wake of their names figuring in the Volcker report on the oil-for-food scam and the ED questioning them in this connection.
Reacting to Gandhi's accusation of her being betrayed by Singh, he said, "Betrayed is a strong word and according to Indian culture such words are not used for a person older than her 15 years."
He also said, "Those who are born in Indian soil will only understand the country's ethos and culture. Others will not."
Singh quit as External Affairs Minister in November last year and was suspended by the Congress from its primary membership in August this year for bringing "disrepute" to the party.
Singh asked, "Why don't they sack me from the party if I am guilty?"
Making it clear that he will not take attacks on him lying down, he said, "You see, I know a lot of things about the party and the leadership".
He was capable of creating trouble for the party and Gandhi, Singh said, adding he had many things up his sleeve.
On the issue of his political career, Singh said, "I have many options which I will exercise when the time comes. But let the Congress leadership decide about me first."
When asked if he is considering the option of joining the Samajwadi Party, he said, "Many people are in touch with me."
On Gandhi's assertion that she had only "working relations" with him, Singh pointed out that she had invited him and his wife to her daughter Priyanka's wedding in 1995.
"No other Congress leader except Sheila Dikshit was invited," he said to emphasise that his ties with the Nehru-Gandhi family were more than "working relations".
"I stood by her during (former Prime Minister) P V Narshima Rao's tenure," he said.
Singh said he was the victim of a conspiracy that Gandhi was aware of and expressed fears that his kin could also be targeted.
Asked if he thought that Gandhi was involved in the matter, he said, "This is a conspiracy; there is no doubt about it. Whatever has happened, happened before our leader and with her permission.
"Anything can happen against me and my family. I can be harmed. My house can be raided. My grandsons could be harmed. Anything could be planted and I could be sent to jail.
"Any intelligence agency may put something in my house, a file or a document, anything. I had been in the government, I know their tactics... I hope nothing of this sort happens. But we have decided that we will face whatever happens."
Asked about allegations against his son Jagat regarding irregularities in the oil-for-food programme, Singh said "If it is proved that my son has done anything wrong or accepted bribe or made money by wrong means, then I will break off contacts with him."
Cong in no hurry to hit back at Natwar
Unfazed by Natwar Singh's attack on party chief Sonia Gandhi, the Congress on Sunday gave enough hints that it was in no hurry to hit back at the former External Affairs Minister despite his "outbursts showing desperation and frustration".
"Congress is a responsible party which takes a balanced and considered view of things and takes appropriate decisions at appropriate time," AICC media department chairman Janardan Dwivedi said, reacting to Singh's allegations against Gandhi.
Dwivedi preceded these remarks saying "Singh can say anything out of desperation and frustration".
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