Date:07/03/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/03/07/stories/2007030709991200.htm

National

Congress disciplinary panel silent on move against Natwar

NEW DELHI: The Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) of the Congress on Tuesday night discussed ways to improve discipline in the party but remained ambivalent on proceeding further against suspended party leader K. Natwar Singh whose name had figured in the Volcker report on the Iraqi food-for-oil scam.

``Natwar Singh is already suspended,'' External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a member of the DAC, shot back when reporters asked him whether any decision on expulsion of the former Minister has been contemplated.

Mr. Singh, suspended from the party on August 9 last, has been publicly targeting the Congress leadership using the Samajwadi Party platform. Mr. Mukherjee said the DAC, headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony, discussed ``some cases of indiscipline and also on how to enforce discipline.''

Asked why the party was not taking action against Mr. Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, he countered saying, ``Why are you insisting?"

Mr. Singh's son Jagat Singh has already been expelled from the party. — PTI