Prime Minister to meet ministers on 2G note

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to hold a meeting of ministers on Thursday evening to defuse the crisis arising out of the controversial finance ministry note on 2G spectrum.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to hold a meeting of ministers on Thursday evening to defuse the crisis arising out of the controversial finance ministry note on 2G spectrum.

"The meeting will be held after the prime minister returns from his Sikkim visit," sources said.

Union ministers Pawan Kumar Bansal and V Narayanasamy met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee late Wednesday.

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Congress sources said the meeting discussed ways to end the controversy that has given rise to speculation about differences between Mukherjee and home minister P Chidambaram on the 2G spectrum allocation.

The meeting came in the backdrop of Mukherjee writing a letter to Manmohan Singh clarifying that the note had been prepared in consultation with other ministries.

A copy of the letter was sent to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The March 25 note to the Prime Minister's Office from the finance ministry says that the airwaves could have been auctioned in 2008 if Chidambaram, who was then the finance minister, had "stuck to his stand".

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction -- implying that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores of rupees could have thus been avoided.