Home Minister P Chidambaram has deferred his plans to travel to the United States this weekend, ostensibly to deal with the crisis at home caused by the indefinite strike of the officers of the public sector oil companies. However, a team of senior government officers is already in the United States discussing terror related issues with officials of the US Homeland Security and trying to work out a common response mechanism by the two countries in the fight against terror.

Chidambaram, whose US trip was related to the investigations into the Mumbai attack in which Washington is lending close support to India, heads a ministerial committee to consider the demands of the striking employees and has been at the forefront of the negotiations being carried to blow away the crisis.

Sources said Chidambaram’s presence in the country at this crucial time, when petrol pumps in many parts of the country, including the Capital, had gone dry because of the strike, was considered necessary by the Government. Chidambaram’s plans to visit the United States in relation to the Mumbai attack had initially caused some discomfiture in the South Block which had not properly assessed the impact this trip might have had at a time when the US administration was in the midst of transition.