This comes a day after Justice R S Pathak’s indictment that had it not been for Natwar and his lobbying with the Saddam regime, his son’s friend and his associates wouldn’t have got the oil contracts and the illegal surcharges.

Natwar Singh, who was at a dinner meeting with Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh when his suspension was announced, hit back almost immediately, picking on Manmohan Singh by describing him as “the first Prime Minister to occupy the chair after not winning a Lok Sabha election, not even a municipal election”.

Reacting sharply to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s remark that he had brought “disrepute” to the Congress, Natwar said there were three persons in Manmohan Singh’s Council of Ministers who are accused in cases of murder and rape. “Are they not bringing disrepute to the government? My record is impeccable,” he said.

Earlier, the Congress Disciplinary Action Committee met and decided around midnight to suspend the 75-year-old diplomat-turned-politician from the party.

Announcing the decision, DAC chief A K Antony and Pranab Mukherjee told reporters that a show-cause notice was being issued to Singh, asking him why he should not be expelled from Congress. He would be given two weeks to reply.

To a question, Mukherjee said suspension was not the final punishment and if Natwar’s explanation was satisfactory, then there would be no cause for further action. Mukherjee said action was taken against Natwar because “as leader of the Congress delegation to Iraq in 2001, he misused his official position by furthering commercial interests of his son Jagat Singh’ cousin Andaleeb Sehgal and his company Hamdaan Exports. Natwar Singh expanded the Congress delegation by including Jagat Singh and Andaleeb Sehgal without any authority from the Congress president and without her knowledge”.

Mukherjee said Natwar had “in recent weeks been indulging in and carrying on propaganda against the party and has brought disrepute to it”. “On these counts, he has been suspended from the primary membership of the party. A show-cause notice will be issued to him shortly asking him why he should not be expelled from the party,” he said.

Today’s action by the Congress virtually severs two decades of Natwar’s association with the Congress which he joined in 1984 to contest Lok Sabha elections successfully after quitting the foreign service.

Natwar had risen to become secretary in the External Affairs Ministry. He became a Minister of State in the Rajiv Gandhi government and then became External Affairs Minister in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet.‘Loyalist’ slams PM, takes a dig at Sonia

• Manmohan Singh is the only prime minister in the world not to have won even a municipality election. The first ten prime ministers of this country had won Lok Sabha elections. His name should go to the Guinness book of records

• Pranab Mukherjee wanted to become prime minister after Indira Gandhi. He was out of the party for six years. What can he say?

• I have not taken any money, Mr Pathak has exonerated me and my son. Still this. Why are they not talking about Quattrocchi? Andaleeb Sehgal just received 146,000 dollars. And how much has been spent by Pathak himself and the ED. Pathak inquiry is a disgrace

• There are two murderers in the Cabinet. They have been chargesheeted and others are involved in scams, fodder scam. Why are they not being removed from the Cabinet?