Samajwadi Party had offered me a R S seat : Natwar Singh

New Delhi, June 9 (UNI) Former Foreign Minister Natwar Singh today claimed the Samajwadi Party had formally offered him a Rajya Sabha seat from Uttar Pradesh but he had politely declined the offer.

Mr Singh, who had to quit after his name figured as a 'contractual beneficiary' in the the UN's probe panel headed by Paul Volcker in the ''Oil for Food'' Programme. in an interview with India TV said he had been hearing from people for the last three to four days claiming that he had sought Rajya Sabha seat from the SP, but that party had refused him the ticket.

"I can now say that I was formally offered by the SP a R S seat but I declined the offer politically. The party had kept one seat vacant till last Thursday", he told the channel. The full interview would be telecast tomorrow.

Mr Singh's disclosure assumes significance because it is not just his name that figures in the Volcker report as a non-contractual beneficiary. The report also lists Congress as the second contractual beneficiary.

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