K Natwar Singh: A man who wore many hats and spoke his mind
K Natwar Singh wore many hats as he straddled the worlds of diplomacy, politics and writing but what remained consistent across decades was his sharp-wit and plainspeaking. The former Congress leader had a love-hate relationship with the party as while he had a great equation with the likes of former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, he had a fallout with Sonia Gandhi after allegations were levelled against him when he was part of the UPA-I Cabinet.
Singh passed away on Saturday night after a prolonged illness, family sources said. He was 93.
He breathed his last at Medanta Hospital in Gurugram near Delhi, where he had been admitted for the past couple of weeks, they said.
Singh was born in 1931 in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
He was a career diplomat, who brought a wealth of experience in diplomacy to his political career, and also a prolific author on subjects ranging from the life of a maharaja to nuances of foreign affairs.
Singh was selected into the Indian Foreign Service in 1953 but in 1984, he resigned to contest elections as a member of the Congress. He won the election and served as a Union minister of state until 1989.
He returned to the political forefront when he was made the external affairs minister in 2004 when the Congress returned to power.
However, 18 months later, he had to resign after the UN's Volcker committee named both him and the Congress party to which he belonged as beneficiaries of illegal pay-offs in the Iraqi oil scam.
As a diplomat, Singh is considered a
