Terming the demand for resignation of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram as politically motivated Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said : “What ever the decision took by Chidambaram as finance minister was in consultation with others,”. He was reacting to the BJP demand that Chidambaram should quit alleging that he had a role in multi crore scam.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too defended Chidambaram saying that the home minister had no role in the scam.
The government also justified the fact that minutes of a meeting between Chidambaram and the then telecom minister, A Raja, had not been recorded, saying it was not required.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal also told media that Chidambaram had never recommended to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that start-up spectrum should be treated as a “closed chapter” and there was some confusion regarding it.
“His comments were about additional spectrum charges,” he maintained. The minister was reacting to the allegations that though Raja had held several rounds of talks with Chidambaram on spectrum pricing issues, it was said that meetings of such meetings were not maintained.
The BJP on Friday asked the prime minister to sack Chidambaram “forthwith” for his alleged complicity in the case