New Delhi: Even as the Congress party on Tuesday said that it would disqualify former external affairs minister and suspended Congress leader Natwar Singh from Rajya Sabha, the man in question remained unfazed by all the negative attention.
The party is angry with Singh for he has been openly voicing his support for the candidature of Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat for the post of President. What is irking Congress is the fact that Shekhawat is the NDA's chosen nominee.
Natwar Singh said he was pitching for NDA-backed Presidential nominee Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as a proud Rajasthani just as Shiv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray had stood by "daughter" of Maharashtra Pratibha Patil.
"I am not a member of the BJP but I come from Rajasthan so does Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat," Singh was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
The Congress, meanwhile, filed a petition on the ground that Singh had campaigned for the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and thus had attracted the provisions of the anti-defection law.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi told reporters that Natwar Singh's campaign for the Samajwadi Party was seen on the visual media and that was "enough evidence" for him to be disqualified under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Singh was suspended from the party this year after an inquiry indicted him and his son Jagat Singh for their role in Iraq's oil-for-food scam.
A CNN-IBN Special Investigation report had showed Hawala kingpin Chetan Gupta admitting on camera that he was involved in money laundering operations for Natwar Singh and his wife Herminder Kumari.
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