'Didn't know of bugging bid on Pranab's office'

Breaking his silence on the alleged bugging of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and his close aides offices, home minister P Chidambaram said he did not know of the so-called 'bugging' attempt on Mukherjee's office till he saw it in the newspapers last week.

Breaking his silence on the alleged bugging of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and his close aides offices, home minister P Chidambaram said he did not know of the so-called 'bugging' attempt on Mukherjee's office till he saw it in the newspapers last week.

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He also rubbished Opposition's arguments that this proves "there is a civil war" between him and Mukherjee.

"The finance minister and I are separated by at least 10 years of age. He (Mukherjee) is older, wiser and more senior. He chairs a number of GoMs (groups of ministers) and I am a member of practically everyone of them," he told NDTV in an interview.

Chidambaram said, "We speak to each other every day and consult each other almost on a continual basis and I think only feverish and hyperactive imaginations can look for ghosts where none exist."

Asked why he was bypassed by Mukherjee, who wrote to the Prime Minister on the issue, he said it had been dismissed as a non event which is why he wasn't briefed.

"I don't think anyone suspected actual bugging. ... I think what they suspected was what are these substances."

Responding to the Opposition's allegation of a 'civil war' in the government, he said, "I think they have hyperactive minds and hyperactive imaginations. I think they live under the shadow of daily war between the two leaders of the Opposition in their own party and therefore they look for ghosts where none exist."