Surjewala disowns Jagat Singh's Iraq letter

Former Youth Congress chief said that he had never issued any authorisation letter to Jagat Singh.

Former Indian Youth Congress (IYC) president Randeep Singh Surjewala on Sunday said that he had never issued any authorisation letter to Jagat Singh allowing him to be a part of a delegation to Iraq as claimed by him.

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Embarrassed by the letter produced by Jagat, currently facing charges of making money in the scam related to Iraq's oil-for-food scam programme, Surjewala, a cabinet minister in the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana, said: "No such authorisation letter had been issued to Jagat."

Asked about the status of the letter produced under his signature as IYC president by Jagat Singh to the enforcement directorate that was investigating the case, Surjewala stuck to his line that he had not issued the letter.

He also shied away from saying that the letter was "forged" or "bogus".

Surjewala said that statements attributed to him in the media saying that the letter was "bogus" were not made by him.

He also refused to be drawn further into the controversy by getting a criminal case registered if the letter attributed to him was "forged".

"I have made my stand clear on the issue earlier. I did not authorise anyone to go to Iraq on a Youth Congress delegation," Surjewala said.

He claimed that Jagat had himself said on TV channels that he (Jagat) had made the visit in his private capacity. Subsequently, Jagat, a sitting Congress legislator in Rajasthan, produced the authorisation letter allegedly written by Surjewala.