BJP and Congress were locked in a slugfest over the Finance Ministry note to PMO on stand taken by Chidambaram in 2G spectrum allocation.
BJP Friday targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after he reposed faith in Home Minister P Chidambaram who is facing opposition heat in 2G Spectrum case, asking whether he was being "shielded" over fears of "embers of the fire" reaching the PMO.
Congress on its part hit out at BJP accusing the main opposition party of wanting to fish in troubled waters and asked it not to "jump the gun" since the 2G issue is already under a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) probe.
As the two parties were locked in a slugfest over the Finance Ministry note to the PMO on the stand taken by Chidambaram in 2G spectrum allocation when he was the Finance Minister, the BJP alleged his "culpability" was evident and demanded a fair investigation into his role.
Stepping up BJP's attack on Chidamabram while pressing for his resignation, the party's Chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad wondered how the Prime Minister has expressed "full confidence" in him without going into the merits of the case in the wake of the new evidence.
"Is his confidence in his ministerial colleague more important than a fair inquiry?" he asked, insisting that "not taking timely action for the benefit of someone is also a crime".
"We want to ask the Prime Minister if the compulsion to shield Chidambaram is there as the embers of the fire can reach the PMO," Prasad said.
"Skeletons are fighting skeletons and rocking the boat of UPA. How long will you keep quiet, Mr Prime Minister?"
Prasad also asked at whose behest was the note by the Finance Ministry prepared for the PMO.
"At whose instance did the Finance Ministry prepare the note for the PMO?... The country is certainly entitled to know if the PMO asked for the note. If yes, why was there no follow-up action?"
Congress sought to turn the tables on BJP for its offensive on Chidambaram.
"For every question the BJP raises, we can raise two. Notwistanding serious objections raised by a former telecom minster of NDA, why it is that the migration was permitted, why the spirit of national telecom policy was violated...why the entry level for new players would be the same....why the Spectrum was not auctioned separately," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
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