Indian Minister to Quit Over Iraq Scandal: Reports 
By Reuters
December 6, 2005
The New York Times
Original Source: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-india-politics.html

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's suspended foreign minister will quit the cabinet within days, targeted by opposition parties after he was named in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal, media reports said on Tuesday.
Natwar Singh was stripped of his post a month ago but remained in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio after being named in the Volcker report on irregularities in the United Nations program for Iraq.
Singh has told his Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi he will hand his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- they are not related -- after the prime minister returns from a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, several newspapers reported.
Gandhi dropped Singh from the party steering committee after he told her of his plans in a half-hour meeting on Monday, a sign his resignation would be accepted, The Indian Express said.
Singh, one of the most senior people named in the Volcker report, could not be contacted for comment.
Both Singh and the Congress party were named in an annex to the report detailing beneficiaries of oil allocations made by the government of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
The issue has caused a political furor, with the opposition pressing for Singh's dismissal and a full-scale inquiry.
The government has announced a judicial investigation. The prime minister has taken over the foreign affairs portfolio with the help of two junior ministers.