Cong, Oppn still at loggerheads over PC's role in 2G

The political slugfest over home minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation refuses to die down, with the Opposition continuing to demand his sacking and the Congress squarely rejecting it.

The political slugfest over home minister P Chidambaram's alleged role in 2G spectrum allocation refuses to die down, with the Opposition continuing to demand his sacking and the Congress squarely rejecting it.

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Talking to reporters in Kolkata, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday maintained that he will speak, if necessary, on the finance ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation issue only after talking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.

While law minister Salman Khurshid, after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, insisted that there was "nothing to investigate in the note", senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley accused the government of trying to find a "patchwork" solution to the "crisis" created in the party by the March 25 note of the finance ministry.

A few hours after meeting Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence, Khurshid said,"I do believe that he (Chidambaram) is an extremely effective and an extremely enlightened minister".

He said the finance ministry's note is "neither a decision nor a communication of a decision" but only a summary of what has happened and somewhere along the summary, there is an inference".

At the AICC briefing, party spokesperson Rashid Alvi also threw his weight behind Chidambaram by downplaying the controversy. "The cup appears to be hotter than the tea. The tea is not that hot...Chidambaram has committed no wrong. There is no question of his resignation," he said.

Questioning home minister P Chidambaram's silence on his role in the 2G spectrum allocation, Jaitely, however, said he has a lot to "answer" on the issue which has caused "revenue loss to the nation" contending UPA's infighting "does not answer" as to who is responsible for the loss.

The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha alleged that Chidambaram has changed his position on the allocation of 2G spectrum and demanded answers as to why he did it.