Natwar moves Privilege notice against PM in RS

New Delhi, Aug 6: Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh has moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the leakage of the the R.S. Pathak Inquiry Authority's report on the oil-for-food scam.

According to sources the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has confirmed that the notice to this effect has been received.

Also, MPs belonging BSP, SP, AIADMK and TDP are also likely to move a privilege motion in the Upper House over the "leakage" of Justice Pathak Authority report.

''We will possibly bring a privilege notice against the Prime Minister,'' Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said after his meeting with Natwar Singh at the latter's residence earlier in the day.

The SP leader said his meeting with Mr Natwar Singh was to bring messages from AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu. He declined to divulge the contents of the messages.

However, the Congress maintained that it would formulate its views and take a stand on the Pathak Authority Report on Volcker allegations only after the report is placed in Parliament tomorrow.

The party could not possibly comment on the report as long as it has not seen it, highly placed sources said.

The sources indicated that the Government might also table the Action Taken Report along with the Pathak Authority Report in Parliament on Monday. The ATR will be cleared by the Union Cabinet before it is placed in Parliament.

Asked about the line of action on the report, which indicted former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh for securing Iraqi oil deals but gave a clean chit to the Congress,the sources said the ATR itself would spell out the line of action.

Both, the Congress and Mr Natwar Singh had been been named as non-contractual beneficiaries in UN Oil for Food scam of Iraq in the Volcker Committee Report.

Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said the Government will deal very firmly with the leakage of the Pathak Authority report on the Volcker allegations and have it investigated by an agency.

''The leakage issue will be dealt with very firmly by the Government.... we will let you know very soon the manner and time frame of the probe to be conducted by a investigating agency,'' he said.

The investigation will be confined to the leakage only, he added.

The Minister also announced that the government will come out with its Action Taken Report on the Pathak Authority report ''at the earliest.... faster than the earlier ATRs placed in Parliament.'' However, he refused the specify the exact time frame.

He recalled that during the NDA regime, the operative part of the report of the Kargil Review Committee, headed by Mr K Subhramanyam was leaked out, ''even before it saw the light of day,'' but the Congress then did not express any concern over the issue. ''We will not go in that manner,'' he noted.

''We do feel that such a leakage is not a good thing.... not at all good. No less than the Speaker himself had resented it,'' he said.

Mr Dasmunsi commended the Pathak Inquiry Authority for doing its job ''objectively and accomplishing it within a short period.'' Reacting sharply to Opposition Leader L K Advani's charge that the Government managed to have the Congress exonerated and Mr Natwar Singh made a scapegoat in the Pathak Authority report, Mr Dasmunsi retorted that Mr Advani himself is a ''master manipulator.'' Replying to a question, he said if the BJP thought that by creating a hue and cry on Pathak Authority report, they can divert attention from the Kandhar hijack and ''mole'' issues, ''they were living in a fool's paradise.''

UNI