Pranab distances himself from 2G note, pacifies Chidambaram

New Delhi, Sep 29 (PTI) Pranab Mukherjee Thursday sought
to douse the week-long raging fire ignited by an Indian
Finance Ministry note, distancing himself from the blame on P
Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum controversy and pacifying the
sulking Home Minister who said the "matter is closed".
The truce came at the intervention of Congress President
Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a day of
hectic activities to quell apparent tensions between the two
senior ministers that had put the government in bad light.
"Apart from the factual background, the paper contains
certain inferences and interpretations which do not reflect my
views," Mukherjee said reading out a brief statement with
Chidambaram standing by his side outside the North Block
office of the Finance Ministry.
The joint appearance of the two ministers along with
Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid came after Mukherjee and
Chidambaram jointly met the Prime Minister where the matter
was thrashed out.
Immediately, Chidambaram expressed happiness over
Mukherjee's statement and said, "I accept the statement and as
far as all of us in the government is concerned, the matter is
closed."
After these statements, Gandhi met the Prime Minister at
his residence for over half an hour.
Chidambaram had been sulking for last one week ever since
the surfacing of a Finance Ministry note of March 25, 2011
that had said that the 2G scam could have been avoided had the
then Finance Minister had insisted on auctioning of spectrum
instead of giving it on 2001 prices.
Mukherjee described the March 25, 2011 Finance Ministry
note sent to the PMO as an "inter-ministerial background
paper" prepared by "a group of officers".
Giving a background to it, he said, "A number of stories
on 2G spectrum had appeared in the media in January 2011 (and)
a view was taken that a harmonised note based on facts should
be produced for use by various representatives of the
government."
He went on to add that the policy of the government in
2007-08 was continuation of the policy adopted in October 2003
and reiterated by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
A visibily satisfied Chidambaram said: "I am happy about
the statement made by my senior and distinguished colleague
and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. I accept his statement.
As far as all of us in the government is concerned, the matter
is closed."
As there was growing feeling within the party that
matter was going too far because of ego clash, Gandhi stepped
in. She held confabulations with senior leaders A K Antony and
Ahmed Patel and then met Mukherjee.
Later, Mukherjee and Chidambaram met the Prime Minister
on his return from northeastern Indian state Sikkim when the
two ministers came face to face for the first time since the
controversy erupted.
Just ahead of this meeting, Law Minister Salman Khurshid
and MoS in the PMO V Narayanasamy met Chidambaram.
"All is well. Don't worry," Khurshid said after their
20-minute meeting with Chidambaram.
Indications of truce emerged when when Chidambaram went
to the office of Mukherjee in North Block.
Later at night, a number of senior ministers and Congress
leaders met at the party 'war room'.