The Congress party on Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fully backed the party's Steering Committee decision to remove former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh as its member even as another union minister said it was time for him to quit the government.
"The prime minister, who is away in Moscow, has been briefed about the decision of the steering committee on Sunday night. He agreed with the committee's resolution," party General Secretary Ambika Soni told PTI.
Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal bluntly stated that the minister without portfolio should take a cue from the steering committee's decision.
"Natwar has an acute mind, he understands subtleties of the game," Sibal told reporters, adding that the minister, in the eye of the storm over the Volcker issue, has to himself decide whether or not he should stay in the government in the wake of his removal from the party's highest policy making body.
Why the Iraq scam report is so explosive
Stating that it was for Natwar to understand the signal, he said the party was above individuals.
He, however, added that Natwar's removal did not mean that he was guilty.
"It is for the Justice Pathak Inquiry Authority to decide who is guilty," he said, adding that the committee's decision was a political decision.
Complete Coverage: The Volcker Report
More from rediff