Despite PM’s backing, PC skates on thin ice
Congress sources say Sonia refused to meet Chidambaram
The meeting of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York on Sunday may prove crucial for Home Minister P Chidambaram who is in the eye a storm whipped up by a finance ministry note to the PMO on 2G spectrum issue.
Mukherjee, who is reaching New York on Saturday night (local time), will meet Singh Sunday morning. Singh may ask his senior-most minister the reasons behind the note which indicated that the 2G scam could have been averted had Chidambaram, then finance minister, preferred auction of spectrum instead of ‘first come first served’ procedure.
How Mukherjee, who has apparently seen the note, dated March 25, 2011, responds and what stand the prime minister takes after that would be keenly watched as it would have a direct bearing on the future of Chidambaram in the UPA government. The speculation in political circles in the Union capital is that if Chidambaram indeed resigns – it may not look so as of now – then even the continuation of Singh as prime minister may become untenable.
Singh, who backed Chidambaram as the demand grew for the latter’s resignation, reiterated on Saturday that he has full confidence in all his ministers. Even as the prime minister supported Chidambaram, informed Congress leaders said the home minister sought an audience with the Congress president on Saturday, but was spurned. Soon, he offered to resign. During the day, the Prime Minister called Chidambaram and asked him not to precipitate things and to wait for his return – as he had told him on Wednesday once the crisis erupted.
A section of leadership in the party on Friday sent out signals that Gandhi has asked the party leaders to back Chidambaram in the face of the Opposition heat. However, sources in the Congress seemed to be increasingly feeling uncomfortable over the Chidambaram issue which has been lurking in the background for long. These sources strongly indicate that the home minister would put in his papers once he meets the prime minister on Tuesday.
In New York on Saturday, Singh rejected the BJP demand for resignation of Chidambaram. “The Opposition’s role is to oppose…so there is nothing unusual,” Singh told journalists after addressing the UN General Assembly. “My ministers enjoy my confidence,” he added.
He, however, tried to downplay Mukherjee’s meeting with him. “There are lots of things happening in the world….There is a global economic crisis. The Finance Minister has to brief me. So he is coming,” the prime minister told journalists on Saturday. Mukherjee is currently on a tour to Washington DC to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
The March note from the Ministry of Finance to the Prime Minister’s Office was submitted to the Supreme Court last Wednesday. A day after the note surfaced and put the already beleaguered Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government in fresh trouble, the prime minister told journalists travelling with him that Chidambaram had enjoyed his confidence.
On a slippery slope
* Prime Minister reiterates support to
Chidambaram, but the latter’s star may be on the wane
* PM, Pranab Mukherjee meeting in New York on Sunday may decide
Chidambaram’s future
* Congress sources say Sonia Gandhi has refused to meet the Home Minister
*Finance Ministry’s March 25, 2011 note on the 2G scam may prove to be the clincher
