New Delhi:
The note against P Chidambaram, prepared by the Finance Ministry, is put to use every day by the Opposition to demand Mr Chidambaram be fired.
Marked as "seen by" Pranab Mukherjee, the document maps some of the contours of the telecom scam that was executed in 2008, but has been delivering a glut of consequences since early this year, when A Raja, former Telecom Minister, was arrested.
The note against Mr Chidambaram has become the driving force for the BJP's agenda since last week, when it was presented in the Supreme Court. The government has in court and outside suggested that the note does not offer any grounds for either a formal investigation against Mr Chidambaram, or his resignation. The Prime Minister, on an Air India flight home from New York last night, suggested that the Opposition is trying to enforce early elections by trying to revive political controversies whose shelf-life has expired.
The Prime Minister stressed that the telecom scam played out in 2008, and his government was re-elected a year later. Dr Manmohan Singh said he is confident that his government will last its entire term.
The BJP doesn't buy that argument. "The Prime Minister has distanced himself from ground realities...he is living in denial," said BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
"We don't have the numbers to destabilize the government, and we don't need to do so," he added. Mr Jaitley accused the UPA government of a crisis of leadership. He predicts it will collapse under the weight of its "own contradictions and under the liability of its own image."
The BJP says that one of the corollaries of the note against Mr Chidambaram is that "he did what A Raja did." Therefore, it concludes, Mr Chidambaram should be fired. The Prime Minister said last night that he has full confidence in Mr Chidambaram. "If the PM has confidence in tainted ministers, the country is likely to lose confidence in him," said Mr Jaitley.
The note against Mr Chidambaram finds he could have enforced an auction of valuable spectrum in 2008 when he was Finance Minister. The fact that Mr Raja ignored suggestions from other ministers is believed to have cost the government thousands of crores; it is one of the reasons he is now in jail. The fact that Mr Chidambaram has been criticized by a section of his own government -the note was prepared by a bureaucrat in Mr Mukherjee's ministry - is being used by the BJP as irrefutable evidence of Mr Chidambaram's alleged complicity in the telecom scam.
"The controversies are not because of us," said Mr Jaitley, "the note came from them. So instead of blaming the opposition, the PM should clean up his own house."
Dr Singh has said that the note against Mr Chidambaram is not indicative of a rift within his government. "There are no dissensions in my cabinet," he said.
The BJP has said that the note and its revelations cannot be treated by the government as an internal problem. Referring to the PM's emphasis on unity within the ranks, Mr Jaitley said. "This can solve the Congress's problems, not the nation's problems. The things said in this note will not be solved by shaking hands."
Dr Singh is expected to meet Mr Chidambaram and Mr Mukherjee today to formalize his government's strategy on the politically- incendiary 2G note. But before that he is likely to meet UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi.
(Read: PM to meet Sonia, Pranab on 2G note)Reacting sharply to the BJP's allegations, the Congress today said they were a "ploy to create instability in the government". Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the BJP had no right to lecture the Congress on dissension, and should wait for the 2G ruling before making "baseless comments".
(Read: Congress responds to BJP's allegations on 2G note)