New Delhi: As a united Opposition gunned for his resignation, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government on Thursday threw their weight behind Home Minister P Chidambaram, who is facing the heat after a "secret" note to the Prime Minister by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee raised questions over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation controversy.
Mukherjee had sent a note to Singh in March 2011 saying Chidambaram as then Finance Minister could have prevented the scam. An official Finance Ministry document has cast doubts over the role of Chidambaram, who was then finance minister, in the January 2008 decision of former telecom minister A Raja to issue 2G spectrum licences.
On March 25, 2011, Dr PGS Rao, Deputy Director in the Finance Ministry, sent an office memorandum to Vini Mahajan, Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, regarding allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum. Mukherjee approved the note after personally inspecting the 11-page document.
The Finance Ministry note sent many months after the 2G controversy broke and just a month after Raja was jailed in February, has been accessed by RTI activist Vivek Garg.
Mukherjee's note
The note indicates involvement of Chidambaram, who was then finance minister, in the 2G spectrum allocation. The note contains details of the role of Chidambaram and the Finance Ministry in the controversial allocation of 2G spectrum.
The document has cast doubts over the role of Chidambaram in the January 2008 decision of former telecom minister A Raja to issue 2G spectrum licences.
On March 25, 2011, Dr PGS Rao, Deputy Director in the Finance Ministry, sent an office memorandum to Vini Mahajan, Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office, regarding allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee approved the note after personally inspecting the 11-page document.
A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, former telecom secretary Sidharth A Behura and several corporate leaders are already in jail for their alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam.
Support for Chidambaram
Asserting that Chidambaram's integrity is not in doubt and there is no question mark over his conduct in the wake of the allegations against him, both Government and Congress dismissed the demand for his resignation. The Congress also denied there was any rift in the Government.
Singh also called Chidambaram from Frankfurt and is understood to have expressed full faith in his integrity, a day after a Finance Ministry note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) submitted to the Supreme Court by Janata party leader Subramanian Swamy kicked up a storm.
Besides Singh, Mukherjee also spoke to Chidambaram who said he has assured the Prime Minister that he shall not make any public statement on the subject until he returns to India. Singh is due to return from New York on September 27.
Mukherjee declines to comment
When CNN-IBN asked Mukherjee about the note, he refused to comment. He said the 2G matter is sub-judice. But the Congress is sticking by Chidambaram, it says there's no truth in all the allegations.
"We do not, in any manner, accept the allegation made by Dr Subramaniam Swamy against Mr Chidambaram. The party does not doubt his integrity. This precise issue has been raised by Dr Swamy in the apex court and is sub judice. Without waiting for the proceedings to be completed, it is highly objectionable and inappropriate for Dr Swamy or anyone else to pass premature judgement on the very same issue on which he is seeking relief. We may also add that the mischievous attempt to create a rift between different constitutional functionaries is highly regrettable and ought not to be repeated," said Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Mukherjee, who is in New York, declined comment. "I cannot make any comment on it. The whole matter is under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court of India. We cannot make any comment on any matter that is subjudice," he said.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Law Minister Salman Khurshid spoke in similar vein and said there could be "no question mark" on Chidambaram.
Khurshid said Chidambaram deserved the support of the government. BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, who as PAC Chairman probed the 2G scam, and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa led the Opposition offensive to demand that Chidambaram resign immediately or be sacked by the Prime Minister. CPI-M demanded a CBI probe into Chidambaram's role as there was 'mounting evidence' against him.
Various official estimates have put the loss to the exchequer due to the 2G allocation on January 10, 2010 somewhere between Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 1,76, 000 crore. However, present Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has gone on record to claim the exchequer suffered no loss on this account.
The note from the Finance Ministry, now headed by the UPA Government's all-season trouble-shooter Mukherjee, makes several telling observations.
It says that the Finance Ministry under Chidambaram "implicitly agreed to imposition of same entry fee as that prevailing in 2001 for licences allotted upto December 31, 2008."
This despite a November 22, 2007 note by then finance secretary and present RBI Governor D Subbarao, that the 2001 mobile licence entry fee of Rs 1600 crore had been applied and not the market price at that time.
The note goes on to say how there was consensus between Raja and Chidambaram not to charge more for spectrum up to 4.4 megahertz. The note said, "However, these were not charged (beyond the normal spectrum usage charges) since there was consensus, at the levels of the ministers concerned, that spectrum beyond the 'start-up' levels (beyond 4.4 megahertz) only should be charged."
CBI must probe Chidambaram: Swamy
Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy who is the petitioner in the 2G case and the Opposition are both gunning for Chidambaram insisting on a CBI probe against him.
"It in fact bolsters what the CAG report had said on pages 26 and 27 that Chidambaram if he didn't want to agree with the price he could have used transaction or business rules for the Cabinet and got it down, so I think frankly speaking, the CBI inquiry has become necessary and my trial court petition asking that he be made a co-accused also strengthens," said Swamy.
"The corruption in the allocation of the spectrum could have been avoided. Today the truth has come out. The PM should order an investigation into the role of P Chidambaram in the 2G scam," said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The CPI(M) demanded a CBI probe into the role of P Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister when the 2G spectrum allocation scam took place, in view of the "mounting evidence" against him.
Referring to the note, the party said it had "authoritatively" shown that Chidambaram had then cleared the allotment of licences for 2G spectrum at the 2001 entry fee, "even though the Finance Secretary and his own Ministry had pointed out the need for its revision".
(With Additional Information from PTI)
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