Union Home Minister P Chidambaram called Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last night and discussed with him the issue of a Finance Ministry note on the allocation of 2G spectrum which appeared to raise questions about his role. During the 20-minute call from Frankfurt where he made an overnight halt on his way to New York,Singh spoke to Chidambaram about the 10-page note that was sent to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by the Finance Ministry in March this year. It is understood the Prime Minister expressed full faith in the integrity of the former Finance Minister and assured him he was ready to say this in public. Sources said the Prime Minister also counselled Chidambaram to be patient till he returned home from New York on September 27. The "secret" note was not shown to him,Singh is believed to have told Chidambaram,who was the Finance Minister during the 2G spectrum allocation. The March 25,2011 document on the allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum broadly suggests that Chidambaram could have insisted the valuable resource be auctioned at the time the spectrum was sold on a first come,first serve basis by former Telecom Minister A Raja. The 2G note submitted to the Supreme Court yesterday was written by PGS Rao,Deputy Director in the Finance Ministry,to Vini Mahajan,Joint Secretary in the PMO. The covering letter to the note also said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had seen the note.
