Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended Home Minister P. Chidambaram on the spectrum allocation row, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee wrote a fresh letter to him to explain how a finance ministry note on the issue was prepared, indicating that the last word on the controversy has not yet been spoken.

Mukherjee also sent a copy of the three-and-half page letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, pointing out that the March 25 note on 2G that stated Chidambaram could have got the spectrum auctioned was prepared with help from internal communication from other ministries involved in the matter.

Officials in North Block confirmed that a fresh letter was written by Mukherjee, but said it merely states why the March 25 note of 18 paragraphs with a one-page annexure was sent, and on whose instructions.

“The note basically gave a chronology of events and the basic facts that related to the pricing and allocation of spectrum - things that were already known. This is what the FM (finance minister) has sought to explain,” an official said.

However, there were different versions about the letter written by Mukherjee.

While officials in the North Block confirmed that Mukherjee wrote it Wednesday, Congress sources said that a letter was handed over to Manmohan Singh when Mukherjee met him in New York Sunday.

The controversial March note, signed by Pranab Mukherjee, says the 2G spectrum could have been auctioned and the government could have raked higher revenue if Chidambaram, the then finance minister, had acted.

Manmohan Singh, who returned from New York Tuesday night, had told reporters on board his special aircraft that Chidambaram enjoyed his full confidence and that there was no dissension in his cabinet, when asked about the finance ministry note.