The Congress on Thursday started an all-out effort to resolve the issue of controversial finance ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation, which has split the party leaders.
While Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a series of meetings with senior party leaders and ministers on Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was likely to meet Home Minister P.Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee later in the day to ensure that the issue was resolved at the earliest.
Sources told Headlines Today that Home Minister P. Chidambaram, whose name figures in the March 26, 2011 note sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), has threatened to quit unless his name was cleared soon. He has been upset that he was not consulted on the note sent by the finance ministry to the PMO, sources said.
According to sources, Chidambaram has been keen on addressing the media to clarify his stand, but has been advised by the party to stay quiet for sometime. However, he has taken an aggressive stand on the issue insisting that his name must be cleared in due time.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was first to meet party president at her 10 Janpath residence on Thursday morning. Later she met senior party functionaries A.K. Antony and Ahmad Patel. The meeting lasted about 40 minutes.
Mukherjee was next to meet Sonia at her residence in the afternoon.
He had earlier written a letter to the prime minister on Wednesday giving a clarification on the controversial 2G note. However, apparently it embarrassed the Congress further.
Mukherjee was expected to meet some senior ministers later in the day to discuss way and means to tackle the crisis involving Chidambaram that was triggered by the note. He had also held a meeting late on Wednesday night but it remained inconclusive.
Mukherjee has insisted that the note was on policy and not on implementation and those responsible for it were facing legal consequences.
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