While emphasising that he had the best of relations with Jethmalani and that he agreed with all his policy decisions, Dattatreya has said that the present crisis in his ministry should have been handled in a more smooth manner.

Yesterday, his senior, Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani, had divested Secretary Kiran Aggarwal of all her powers as a sequel to differences over the MRTS project and the decision to re-allot a complex to MS Shoes in the Capital.

``He (Jethmalani) is a dynamic minister and wants his decisions to be implemented quickly but the bureaucracy works within a set framework and system. This is what has led to delays or objections to some of his decisions, onthe matter of procedure,'' Dattatreya said.

``When a controversy becomes public, it is exploited by the Opposition to embarrass the government even though there may be no credibility in its attack,'' he said, referring to Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy's accusations.

He said he agreed with Jethmalani's views on the controversy regarding the award of general consultancy for the Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS). The credibility of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had come under a cloud over the manner in which the bid was awarded. He added that it was not correct for DMRC to question the authority of the Urban Affairs ministry in making inquiries in this regard.

Aggarwal, a 1964 batch officer of the Haryana cadre, is an old hand with the ministry, having joined as Secretary in January last year. Sources said that Jethmalani had been asking for her transfer for quite sometime but his move was resisted by the Prime Minister's Office and Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar.

Meanwhile,Jethmalani today defended his decision to remove all important matters from Aggarwal's charge. Speaking to The Indian Express

, he said that he had some suspicions about the goings-on in the ministry and that a re-allocation of work among officials was required to increase coordination and efficiency.

Jethmalani prepared to face CBI inquiry

Union Urban Affairs and Employment Minister Ram Jethmalani said that he is prepared to face any inquiry or raid following charges levelled by Janata Party national president Subramanium Swamy recently.

In a letter to director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) T Mishra, Jethmalani has stated that he will cooperate with the CBI authorities to exercise their powers including search, seizure, and arrest at any time against him and waive from using any legal obstacles to protect the inquiry. He said he suspected that some disgruntled officers of his department were passing official papers to Swamy. This aspect of the matter should be investigated bythe CBI, he said. Jethmalani has requested the CBI chief to invite Swamy to file an FIR against him (Jethmalani) and alleged that if this turns out to be one of Swamy's fabricated falsehoods, he should be prosecuted.