In pics: From Natwar Singh to Sushma Swaraj: India's 'controversial' foreign ministers

At a time when the incumbent External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is facing flak for her "assistance" to scam-tainted former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in obtaining British travel documents. The opposition is calling it a "quid pro quo" and has demanded for Swaraj's resignation.

Congress national spokesperson P L Punia said, "There are circumstances which establish contact between Sushma Swaraj and Lalit Modi. As a quid pro quo, Sushma Swaraj has done favour to a tainted person who is accused of Rs 700 crore money laundering, tax evasion and several other charges.

But Swaraj is not the only External Affairs Minister who is facing criticism during her tenure.

Here is the list of controversial foreign affairs ministers of India:

Kunwar Natwar Singh

Kunwar Natwar Singh, a bureaucrat-turned-politician, was made India's foreign minister in 2004.

He had to resign, after serving the office for 18 months, after the UN's Volcker committee named both him and the Congress, to which he belonged, as beneficieries of illegal payoffs in the Iraqi oil scam.

SM Krishna

Former Chief Minister of Karnataka remained EAM between May 2009-Oct 2012. He faced criticism for reading a wrong speech at the United Nations for three minutes before actually realising it.

Krishna, read from the speech of the Portuguese Foreign Minister in front of the UN Security Council before being corrected by an official. He later said there was ‘nothing wrong' with his mistake but opposition BJP called for the minister to step down from his post.

Shashi Tharoor (MoS)

The incumbent Congress MP from Thiruvananthpuram had to resign from the post of MoS Foreign Affairs following allegations over the IPL controversy in 2010, involving him and his wife Sunanda Pushkar's alleged stake in IPL franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Sushma Swaraj

At a time when the incumbent External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is facing flak for her "assistance" to scam-tainted former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi in obtaining British travel documents. The opposition is calling it a case of conflict of interest and has demanded for her resignation.

VK Singh

Gen (retd) VK Singh, the incumbent MoS EAM and a former Indian Army Chief, attracted lots of criticism for his 'disgusting' tweet after attending a programme at Pakistan High Commission.

He later had to clarify on his tweets. Soon after this controversy, Singh sparked yet another controversy with his '#Presstitutes' tweet, while supervising India's massive rescue operation from war-torn Yemen.