He even made a desperate bid to somehow patch up with Manmohan Singh when he bowed and saluted the PM in the House. The PM, after hesitating briefly, acknowledged the greeting but left it at that.

Isolated in the House, Natwar was seen walking upto party colleague and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Suresh Pachouri. The latter, sources later said, “advised him to leave the House before the ruling”.

Natwar’s motion against the PM was declared “not admissible” with Shekhawat ruling that “this matter (the leak of the Pathak report), though very unfortunate and deplorable, does not involve the question of any breach of privilege of the House.”

Natwar did, however, submit a draft of the “personal statement” he wants to make in the House to defend himself against the Pathak indictment in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal. Officials said his draft was being “examined” by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

Both the CPM and CPI, among Natwar’s new friends, have been squirming ever since his outburst against the PM. Natwar met CPM’s Sitaram Yechury today, seeking advice on what his next step should be. Yechury is said to have told him that he should stay away from the SP if he wished to continue in the Congress and apologise to the PM and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Left sources said they felt “let down” by Natwar after Pathak’s revelation regarding the letters he wrote and the lobbying he did for his son’s friend to get the oil deal.

They are said to have advised him that he could claim that he had signed the letters “without realising the potential for damage” and he had not meant to compromise the Congress in any way.

Natwar was said to have sought a meeting with the PM in Parliament House but that never took place.

The CPI, which had so far been backing Natwar, too distanced itself. CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta, who leads his party’s parliamentary group, said, “The cover of anti-imperialism cannot be used to do something wrong. The former minister introducing a son’s friend is wrong. We do not want to favour anyone big or small. This is corruption.”