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Sonia seeks to quell 2G row, meets Chidambaram, Mukherjee
Monday September 26, 2011 09:50:15 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: Congress
president Sonia Gandhi Monday intervened to sort out the
controversy created by a finance ministry note on the 2G spectrum
allocation by separately meeting Home Minister P. Chidambaram and
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Gandhi first met Chidambaram at her 10 Janpath residence for about
25 minutes.
Chidambaram, who has not interacted with the media on the note, is
learnt to have apprised Gandhi of his role in the 2G spectrum
allocation in 2008, when he was the finance minister.
Mukherjee later drove to her residence to explain his position on
the note which was sent by his ministry to the Prime Minister's
Office (PMO).
Sources close to Mukherjee said he told Gandhi that the note had
come into public domain due to information provided by the PMO to
a right to information (RTI) query.
He is also learnt to have told her that the draft note was
prepared following a series of official meetings.
Party sources said that more meetings of top leaders were expected
after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's return to the country
Tuesday.
Mukerjee, who met the prime minister for nearly an hour Sunday in
New York, returned from his visit to the US Monday. He described
Chidambaram as a valuable colleague.
Congress sources said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee
had spoken to Chidambaram from the US.
Mukherjee lavished more praise on his ministerial colleague before
his meeting with Gandhi.
"He (Chidambaram) is a pillar of strength (to the government)," he
said.
Congress sources said the party leadership was keen to quell the
controversy which was giving the government bad publicity and
creating an impression of fissure among two of the senior-most
ministers.
Both Mukherjee and Chidambaram are party heavyweights in charge of
crucial portfolios and members of the Congress core committee
which deliberates on all vital decisions concerning the
government.
They said that Mukherjee and Chidambaram meeting Gandhi separately
had reinforced the impression that there was some chasm between
them and it needs to be bridged quickly.
There is also apprehension in the party circles that the
opposition will train its guns on the prime minister if it
succeeds in getting Chidambaram's resignation.
Congress sources said that the government does not want the
controversy "to spiral further".
The opposition has been quick to latch on to the controversy and
has sought Chidambaram's resignation. It has also spoke about a
"civil war" like situation in the government.
While the Congress and the government have defended Chidambaram in
the face of the controversy, Law Minister Salman Khurshid Monday
said that inferences being drawn on the note were "unwarranted".
Seeking to play down the issue, he said the note was just a
"summary" by a junior official.
"I have seen the note. I don't think there is any such big issue
in it for which we should express concern," Khurshid said.
"It is a summary and in summary, sometimes a person goes beyond
and gives his opinion. What is the importance of this opinion, we
shall see when we discuss.
"I understand that the way some people are presenting it (the
note) is in an exaggerated manner. There is nothing like that in
reality," Khurshid said.
The minister also suggested that the media should not be
preoccupied by the document.
The March 25 note to the PMO from the finance ministry says that
the airwaves could have been auctioned in 2008 if Chidambaram, who
was then the finance minister, had "stuck to his stand".
In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram could have
prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by
insisting on its auction -- implying that presumptive losses worth
thousands of crores of rupees could have thus been avoided.
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