2G note: Sonia holds meetings with Pranab, Antony, Ahmed

New Delhi: Efforts by the Congress to defuse the controversy, generated by the Finance Ministry note to the Prime
Minister’s Office on the 2G issue, continued today with party president Sonia Gandhi holding meetings with senior leaders, including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence minister A K Antony and her political secretary Ahmed Patel, party sources said.
The sources said Ms Gandhi held a meeting this afternoon with Mr Patel and Mr Antony to resolve the controversy generated by the note. They said the Finance Minister also joined the meeting later. This is the second meeting by the Finance Minister with Ms Gandhi
in the past three days. Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had earlier met Ms Gandhi on Tuesday on the issue. The controversy has arisen over the Finance Ministry’s note on
the 2G issue to the PMO on March 25 suggesting that as the Finance Minister in 2008 when 2G spectrum was allocated, Mr Chidambaram could have stopped A Raja (the then Telecom Minister) from perpetrating the scandal. Mr Mukherjee’s letter has said the 2G scam could have been avoided had Mr Chidambaram insisted on auction instead of giving licences at 2001 prices. The Opposition BJP has also stepped up its pressure on the Congress.