New Delhi:
Congress President Sonia Gandhi wants the 2G note crisis resolved by end of day, says sources, and she has been holding a series of meetings, including a two-hour-long discussion with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at her 10 Janpath residence today. Sources said she was also likely to meet Home Minister P Chidambaram.
Mrs Gandhi's political adviser, Ahmad Patel, was present at her meeting with Mr Mukherjee. She also met senior party leader and Defence Minister AK Antony. Sources said efforts are being made to bring P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee together at a joint press conference to end all talk of a bitter rivalry. A decision on that will be taken after consultations with Mrs Gandhi are over. The PM too is likely to meet both ministers tonight after he returns from his visit to quake-hit Sikkim, say sources.
Mr Mukherjee, who has been huddled in several meetings since yesterday, is likely to hold more discussions with senior partymen like Law Minister Salman Khurshid.
What has brought the Congress to this huddle is a note, prepared by Mr Mukherjee's Finance Ministry and sent to the Prime Minister's Office earlier this year, suggested that Mr Chidambaram should have been more forceful in 2008 when he was Finance Minister, and A Raja was handing over valuable second-generation or 2G spectrum at throwaway prices. Mr Raja was then Telecom Minister; he is now in jail. The politically-inflammatory 2G note said that the Ministry of Finance under Mr Chidambaram could have "stuck to its stand" and insisted that the spectrum be auctioned.
Mr Mukherjee has clarified in a letter to the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi that the 2G note that faults Mr Chidambaram had inputs from different ministries and officials including the then Cabinet Secretary, KM Chandraksehar, and the Prime minister's Office. Mr Mukherjee also said the 2G note was prepared as an inter-ministerial background note to help coordinate the government's strategy. In his explanation to Ms Gandhi and Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Mukherjee is believed to have pointed out that the document also provided some defense of Mr Chidambaram, suggesting that the former Finance Minister "may not have insisted on auction apprehending litigation." The government has repeatedly said that while different ministries suggested an auction of spectrum and wanted this to be studied, Mr Raja rushed to sign off on licenses to companies that he favoured. Effectively, the government then had no option but to accept his actions.
The Opposition has found in the 2G note new grounds for demanding that Mr Chidambaram be dismissed as Home Minister. The BJP also wants the CBI to investigate whether Mr Chidambaram was complicit in the scam. "There is no difference between what A Raja and Chidambaram did," the BJP said yesterday.
The 2G note, unearthed through a Right to Information application, was presented last week in the Supreme Court, which is monitoring the CBI's investigation into the 2G scam. The government has since confronted a Public Relations nightmare. For one, the note suggests that a section of his own government finds Mr Chidambaram's actions wanting during the telecom scam. The note also reinforces reports that Mr Mukherjee and Mr Chidambaram have an uneasy relationship. Sources in the Congress said that when the 2G note landed in court, Mr Chidambram told the Prime Minister that it was part of a campaign orchestrated within the government against him.
The Prime Minister and Mr Mukherjee were both away last week to the US. A series of meetings were expected soon after their return to finalise the government's plan for countering the perception that it is fighting a civil war. But so far, neither Mr Chidambaram nor Mr Mukherjee have met with the PM. Mr Mukherjee has spoken twice on the phone to Mr Chidambram since the letter-bomb exploded. On record, he has described the Home Minister as "a valued colleague" and "a pillar of strength" to the government.
The Opposition says that the 2G note cannot be dismissed as a matter of internal dissent within the government. The party says it exposes that Mr Raja did not act alone when he chose to skip an auction for 2G spectrum. Mr Raja has been arrested for conspiring with firms who he allegedly helped by giving them out-of-turn licenses for mobile networks at massive bargains.