Editing Natwar Singh (section)

==Political career==
[[File:Shri Natwar Singh assumes the charge of Union Minister for External Affairs in New Delhi on May 24, 2004.jpg|thumb|Natwar Singh assumes the charge of Union Minister for External Affairs in New Delhi on 24 May 2004]]

In 1984, after resigning from the [[Indian Foreign Service]], Singh joined the Indian National Congress (INC) party and was elected to the [[8th Lok Sabha]] from [[Bharatpur Lok Sabha constituency|Bharatpur constituency]] in [[Rajasthan]]. In 1985, he was sworn in as a [[Union Council of Ministers|minister of state]] (who is a minister, but one level below a cabinet minister) and allotted the portfolios of [[Ministry of Steel|steel]], [[Ministry of Coal|coal]] and [[Ministry of Mines (India)|mines]], and [[Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare|agriculture]]. In 1986, he became minister of state for [[Ministry of External Affairs (India)|external affairs]]. In that capacity, he was elected President of the United Nations (UN) Conference on Disarmament and Development held in New York in 1987, and also led the [[Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations|Indian delegation]] to the 42nd Session of the [[UN General Assembly]].

Singh remained a minister of state for external affairs until the Congress party lost power after being defeated in the general elections of 1989. In those elections, he contested and lost the [[Mathura (Lok Sabha constituency)|Mathura]] seat in [[Uttar Pradesh]]. The Congress party returned to power after the elections of 1991, with [[P.V. Narasimha Rao]] as Prime Minister since Rajiv Gandhi had been assassinated. At this time, Singh was not an [[Member of Parliament|MP]] and could not be a minister. He developed differences with the Prime Minister and left the party along with [[N.D. Tiwari]] and [[Arjun Singh (politician, born 1930)|Arjun Singh]], to form a new political party, [[All India Indira Congress (Tiwari)|All India Indira Congress]]. 

In 1998, after [[Sonia Gandhi]] had regained complete control of the party, the three family loyalists merged their new party into the Congress party and returned into the service of the Gandhis. Singh was rewarded with a ticket to contest the general elections of 1998, and returned to parliament after a gap of nine years, when he was elected to the [[12th Lok Sabha]] (1998–99) from Bharatpur. Singh had defeated the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]’s (BJP) [[Digamber Singh|Dr. Digamber Singh]], who would go on to become Rajasthan’s Minister of Health, Family Welfare, and later Industries, and emerge as the tallest leader in eastern Rajasthan in the early 2000s, virtually upending Singh’s hold in the region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=DR. DIGAMBER SINGH - Bharatpur - Lok Sabha Election Results 1998 |url=https://www.electiontak.in/lok-sabha-1998/rajasthan/dr-digamber-singh-bharatpur-results-367548 |access-date=30 July 2024 |website=www.electiontak.in}}</ref> He had to sit in the opposition benches, however, and then he lost the elections of 1999. After a further hiatus of three years, he was elected (indirectly) to the [[Rajya Sabha]] from Rajasthan in 2002. The Congress party came back to power in 2004, and Prime Minister [[Manmohan Singh]] appointed Natwar Singh as the [[Minister of External Affairs (India)|Minister of External affairs]].

===Oil-for-Food scandal===
Singh assumed office on 23 May 2004 as India's minister of external affairs. On 27 October 2005, while Singh was abroad on an official visit, the [[Paul Volcker Committee|Independent Inquiry Committee]] headed by [[Paul Volcker]] released the report on its investigation of corruption in the [[Oil-for-Food Programme]]. It included statements that India's Congress Party and Singh's family were non-contractual and corrupt beneficiaries of the Oil-for-Food Programme.<ref>{{cite news|title=Volcker Report names Natwar Singh and his family as "beneficiaries"|url=http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/29/stories/2005102923960100.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051031034552/http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/29/stories/2005102923960100.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 October 2005|access-date=30 May 2011|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=29 October 2005}}</ref> Anil Mathrani, then Indian Ambassador to Croatia and formerly a close aide to Singh, alleged that Singh had used an official visit to Iraq to procure oil coupons for his son, [[Jagat Singh (politician)|Jagat Singh]], from [[Saddam Hussein|Saddam's]] regime.<ref>{{cite news|last=Singh|first=Onkar|title=Natwar Singh resigns from Union Cabinet|url=http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/06volcker10.htm|access-date=30 May 2011|newspaper=rediff News|date=6 December 2005|archive-date=12 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312005115/http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/06volcker10.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 26 March 2006, the [[Enforcement Directorate]] (ED) announced that it had traced a sum of eighty million rupees that had been transferred from the bank account of [[London]]-based [[Indian diaspora|Non-Resident Indian]] (NRI) businessman and family relative of Singh, Aditya Khanna, the son of businessman [[Vipin Khanna]], to his own NRI account in a [[Delhi]] bank.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Richard |last2=McKenzie |first2=Nick |date=16 August 2010 |title=Money in the bag - Indian trade links under scrutiny |url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/money-in-the-bag--indian-trade-links-under-scrutiny-20100815-125au.html |access-date=22 April 2025 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald}}</ref> The amount was later withdrawn and allegedly distributed among Indian beneficiaries of the reported scam.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Thakur|first=Pradeep|title=Oil-for-food: ED traces Rs 8-cr to Delhi bank|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Oil-for-food-ED-traces-Rs-8-cr-to-Delhi-bank/articleshow/1464457.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614052809/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2006-03-26/india/27799357_1_oil-for-food-bank-accounts-aditya-khanna|url-status=live|archive-date=14 June 2012|access-date=30 May 2011|newspaper=[[The Times of India]]|date=26 March 2006}}</ref>

Singh was suspended by the Congress in 2006.<ref name="d796"/>

===Later career===
In February 2008, Singh announced that he had quit the Congress at a BJP-sponsored rally of the [[Jat people|Jat community]] held at [[Jaipur]] in the presence of [[Vasundhara Raje]], then [[Chief Minister]] of [[Rajasthan]]. On this occasion, Singh not only asserted his innocence but also launched an attack on Sonia Gandhi for having failed to defend or support him.<ref>{{cite web|title=Home " Nation Natwar Singh quits Congress|url=http://www.zeenews.com/news424175.html|publisher=Zee News|access-date=30 May 2011|date=13 February 2008}}</ref>

In mid-2008, both Singh and his son Jagat joined [[Mayawati]]'s [[Bahujan Samaj Party]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 August 2008|title=Natwar Singh to join BSP|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/natwar-singh-to-join-bsp/story-cXyaAR0z03ayo46MScxIDI.html|access-date=26 December 2021|website=Hindustan Times|language=en|archive-date=26 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226135559/https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/natwar-singh-to-join-bsp/story-cXyaAR0z03ayo46MScxIDI.html|url-status=live}}</ref> only to be expelled by that party within four months (in November 2008) for alleged indiscipline, anti-party activities and "lack of faith" in the ideology of the Bahujan Samaj Movement. In fact, Singh had been demanding a Rajya Sabha seat (which had apparently been promised before he joined the party) and Mayawati had changed her mind on that matter.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mayawati has no courtesy: Natwar Singh|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/mayawati-has-no-courtesy-natwar-singh/635247|access-date=26 December 2021|website=www.outlookindia.com/|archive-date=26 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211226135559/https://www.outlookindia.com/newswire/story/mayawati-has-no-courtesy-natwar-singh/635247|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Singh |first1=K. Natwar |title=A diplomat's diary |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/a-diplomats-diary/article4952391.ece |website=The Hindu |access-date=4 May 2020 |language=en-IN |date=27 July 2013 |archive-date=4 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504194406/https://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/a-diplomats-diary/article4952391.ece |url-status=live }}</ref> Jagat Singh later joined the BJP.<ref name="u721">{{cite web | last=Mishra | first=Sachin Kumar | title=Jagat Singh Join BJP: नटवर सिंह के पुत्र जगत सिंह फिर भाजपा में हुए शामिल | website=Jagran | date=14 August 2021 | url=https://www.jagran.com/rajasthan/jaipur-natwar-singh-son-jagat-singh-again-join-bjp-21929037.html | language=hi | access-date=11 August 2024}}</ref>