New Delhi: The Congress has gone into overdrive to tackle the fall-out of the Volcker committee report.
Hectic meetings at 10 Janpath and the Prime Minister's residence have been taking place all of Saturday.
The Volcker shadow on the Congress got bigger this morning.
Party president, Sonia Gandhi has been accused of writing a letter to the Iraqi administration allegedly referring the External Affairs minister Natwar Singh to get the contract for Masefield AG.
Masefield AG is a Swiss company that is reported to have lifted oil barrels under allotments to Congress.
An Iraq based businessman Hari Darshan Maeji has claimed that Iraq's oil minister made crude allotments to Natwar Singh after Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter.
The focus shifted immediately from Natwar Singh. The Congress has closed ranks to defend her and the party's core group met to devise a strategy to defend their supreme leader.
A high-powered meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi is presently underway.
The government is planning to set up a strategy group comprising key ministers like Pranab Mukherjee and Shivraj Patil.
On Saturday afternoon, Manmohan Singh was closeted in a meeting with finance minister, P.Chidambaram and Science and Technology minister Kapil Sibal who are both lawyers.
AICC General Secretary and Congress spokesperson Ambika Soni has stated that the allegations are baseless.
?Maeji is a self-styled vigilante. His allegations are susect as he himself is named in the investigation,? said Jagat Singh, Natwar Singh?s son, who is also named in the Volcker report.
It is no longer Natwar's war. Finally the Congress is in the thick of things as a single and united party.
Meanwhile the BJP has taken to the streets on the issue. Their leaders marched to Natwar Singh's house to protest and demand his resignation.
Though senior Opposition like Vajpayee and Advani stayed away from the NDA's protest march to Natwar Singh's house but the heat was defiitely on the ruling UPA.
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