New Delhi, September 27: Asserting that there is no dissension within the members of the Cabinet, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said there is no rift between Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“I think this rift which you talk about I find reflected only in the media, I”m not aware of any such rift, we are a cohesive government, we shall remain a cohesive government, so let there be no confusion on that score,” said Dr. Singh.
“There is no dissension in the cabinet. Having said that let me say in all cabinets we debate with an open mind, ministers can have a different perspective that does not contribute to divisiveness, that”s in a way a help. But there is nothing of that sort which has been written in last few days in the media about the differences between Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Mukherjee,” he added.
Commenting on the controversy surrounding the 2G note, Dr. Singh said it would be not be appropriate for him to comment on the matter, and added that both Chidambaram and Mukherjee enjoy his full confidence.
“Let me say the particular note you were talking about I have read about that; this note is designed to set out a record of what took place, all these matters are now in public domain, they are being looked into by courts, therefore it would not be appropriate for me to comment one way or the other to what is good and what is bad in these notes,” said Dr. Singh.
“They are the properties of the public, they are now being discussed in the courts and as far as Mr. Chidambaram is concerned he continued to enjoy my confidence — when he was Finance Minister, he continues to enjoy my confidence as Home Minister and that applies to Shri Mukherjee,” he added.
Commenting on former Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran”s letter on 2G pricing written in 2006, Dr. Singh said: “Well that was way back in 2006, at that time licensing were to take place in 2008-09 was not on the horizon, the real concern of the Government of that time. We should persuade the Defence Ministry to vacate spectrum and that spectrum should be made available to the civilian economy and in the process we would rake lot of money and it is certainly true that one draft that was prepared did include spectrum prices and Mr. Dayanidhi Maran did object and he said spectrum pricing is the bread and butter and integral part of the rules of business of his department and he said the large group like ministers you were setting up are not going to be able to deal effectively with complicated technical aspects involved.”
Furthermore, it was pointed that there was a Cabinet decision in 2003 which said that spectrum pricing is a matter which should be discussed between the Finance Ministry and the Telecom Ministry and in the line of all that I came to the conclusion that my agreeing with Mr. Maran”s point of view would not amount to sacrificing anything that is essential and integral to the success of the process,” he added.
According to reports, Maran”s letter asked the Prime Minister to dilute the terms of reference of the GoM and ensure that the issue of pricing of spectrum would remain with the Telecom Ministry.
The letter was written after Manmohan Singh approved, in principle, a Group of Ministers to look into the release of additional spectrum and pricing of the scarce 2G spectrum.
–Agencies