NEW DELHI, Oct 30: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday gave a clean chit to Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh in Iraq’s oil-for-food scandal, but the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) decided to step up its campaign for him to quit.

The UN-established Independent Inquiry Committee has named Natwar Singh and the Congress party as “non-contractual beneficiaries” of the Iraqi oil sales in 2001 under the UN programme. Mr Natwar Singh met Dr Manmohan Singh on Sunday and “categorically denied any involvement in the alleged illicit payments on oil transactions under oil-for-food programme as stated by the UN Independent Inquiry Committee,” the prime minister’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

“The prime minister agreed that the facts mentioned in table-3 of the report of the Independent Inquiry Committee are insufficient to arrive at any adverse conclusion against the external affairs minister and stands by him,” Mr Baru said.

The foreign minister also met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and explained his position in the matter. The BJP, which sought his resignation on Saturday, plans to step up its campaign against Natwar Singh. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which usually supports the foreign minister because he is seen as less pliable to the United States than the prime minister, has demanded a probe into the affair. The CPI-M also accused the United States and other western countries of a “bias” against countries like India.