Notwithstanding Jaitley’s advice, the BJP is by and large waiting for Natwar’s speech in the Rajya Sabha to see red faces in the Congress. Asked if the BJP was supporting the beleagured Natwar, party chief Rajnath Singh said, ‘‘No, it is not so.’’

Malhotra, when asked if he considered Natwar innocent, said, ‘‘No, we don’t consider him innocent. However, we do believe he is a small fish - the actual player is the Congress.’’ He said: ‘‘Now that he plans to come out with a statement on the floor of the House, we are waiting to see if he exposes the role of the Congress in the oil-for-food scandal.’’

The issue figured at the Tuesday’s BJP parliamentary party meeting too. Rajya Sabha member Pyarelal Khandelwal, who raised the matter, asked: ‘‘Isn’t it that by condoning Natwar’s involvement in the scandal, we may end up bailing out Sonia and the Congress?’’ Advani told the meeting that there it was not correct to say that the BJP condoned what Natwar had done.

Jaitley said the party could not defend Natwar. Going by the evidence, he cannot not be saved, Jaitley added. Ravi Shankar Prasad also wondered how could Natwar Singh be defended when the party had forced his ouster from the Cabinet.

Notwithstanding their differences over the party stance towards Natwar Singh, everyone in the BJP is waiting for him to come out with his side of the story. If he manages to pull off any political scoop, the BJP would obviously focus on a larger target.