Pranab versus PC: looking for ghosts where none exist

Home Minister P Chidambaram clarified that he had no idea about the suspected bugging attempt in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjees office.

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday clarified that he had no idea about the suspected bugging attempt in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjees office until it came out in the media. He also rubbished suggestions of any differences between him and the Finance Minister,saying that it was a product of hyperactive imaginations.

I didnt know about it until it hit the newspapers or the media. Apparently last September or October the Intelligence Bureau was asked to look into this complaint or suspicioin that the Finance Ministers office has been bugged .They went into it,did a complete investigation and sent the substance to a forensic science lab. They got a report that it was an adhesive kind of substance and there was no evidence of any bugs being planted anywhere and those reports I saw three days ago, Chidambaram said in an interview to NDTV.

He said it was not brought to his notice as the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister had come to the conclusion that it was a non-event. If something had been found of course I wouldve been told.

As reported by The Indian Express last Tuesday,Mukherjee had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,urging him to order a secret inquiry into what he called a serious breach of security.

Asked by NDTV whether the final report prepared by the Intelligence Bureau should not have come to him first,Chidambaram said,Not necessarily,because it was a non-event. There was nothing in it8230;. I dont think anyone suspected actual bugging8230;. I think the so-called bugging theory is a recent theory.

To another question as to why a private agency was brought to investigate,the Home Minister said,I dont know the facts about that. Apparently,the CBDT was asked to or offered to look into the matter. Who they brought in,what they did I have no idea.

As for the opposition BJPs allegation that the Home Minister and the Finance Minister are at war,Chidambaram said,I think they have hyper active minds and hyper active imaginations. I think they live under the shadow of daily war between the two leaders of the Opposition in their own party and therefore they look for ghosts where none exists. The Finance Minister and I are separated by at least 10 years of age,he is older,wiser,more senior. He chairs a number of GoMs and I am a member of practically every one of them.

Story continues below this ad

We speak to each other everyday and consult each other almost on a continual basis and I think only feverish and hyperactive imaginations can look for ghosts where none exist.

On whether it was not odd that the Finance Minister didnt consult him at all and did not ask the IB for a preliminary investigation,Chidambaram said,It isnt odd because I dont think anyone suspected bugging.

What they suspected was there are some foreign substances,three,I believe,at the edge of the FMs table,three on a conference table,a couple elsewhere. They saw some foreign substances and asked the CBDT to look into it. The CBDT,for reasons I cannot say why,appears to have brought in some private agency, he added.