New Delhi, September 26
As the gathering storm over the finance ministry’s 2G Spectrum note cast a long shadow over the UPA government, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today held separate meetings with Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and P.Chidambaram in an attempt to put an end to the controversy which is threatening to consume the ruling coalition.

It was speculated that Home Minister Chidambaram, who met the party president first, offered to resign on the plea that he did not want to embarrass the party. There was, however, no official confirmation in this regard. Chidambaram drove past waiting mediapersons without saying anything after his 20 minute meeting with Sonia where he is learnt to have complained that he was being unfairly targeted.

Sonia Gandhi’s meeting with the Home Minister was followed by a discussion with Finance Minister Mukherjee, who returned from the USA this evening. Playing down this episode, Mukherjee told presspersons after his 45-minute meeting with the Congress president that Chidambaram is a “pillar of strength to the party and the government. He had spoken in the same vein in the US where he had referred to the Home Minister as his “valued colleague.”

The controversial finance ministry note, which points to a serious rift between the two senior ministers, was sent to the Prime Minister’s Office this March and made public through an RTI enquiry. It states that Chidambaram, who was then finance minister, did not do enough to prevail upon the then Telecom Minister A Raja in the allocation of 2G Spectrum to favoured companies. Shortly after his arrival in Delhi, Mukherjee went to his North Block office where he scrutinised all the files and documents pertaining to the 2G Spectrum allocation. He told reporters that he will only speak on this issue after discussing the matter with the Prime Minister and other colleagues. He also said a press conference will be held after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from his visit to New York on Tuesday. Mukherjee was closeted with Law Minister Salman Khursheed late tonight as the two discussed the legal implications of the note since the Supreme Court is in the midst of arguments on Chidmabaram’s role in the 2G Spectrum case.

Already under intense pressure on the 2G Spectrum scam, the UPA government and the Congress have rallied behind Chidambaram ever since this controversy surfaced last week. The PM, who was abroad, had said he had full faith in Chidambaram while the Congress said his integrity could not be doubted. Initially, describing the note as a handiwork of a junior official, Khursheed today dismissed it, saying “the document has no life.”

There is all-round realisation in the party and the government that it is imperative to back Chidambaram, described by a senior Congress leader as “ the last shield” in this case. If he goes, the Prime Minister would be next in the line of fire.