2G spectrum scam: Salman Khurshid says Finance Ministry note on Chidambaram 'not so big' an issue

NEW DELHI: Law Minister Salman Khurshid today downplayed the issue of the Finance Ministry note on 2-G allocation which has prompted the opposition to demand the resignation of P Chidambaram, saying the document does not contain anything worrisome.

"I have seen the note. I don't think the note has anything on which we should express worry," Khurshid told reporters here. He said the note was actually a "summary" prepared by a official at the lower level.

"People give their opinion over and above the summary. The importance of the opinion will be seen when the issue is discussed," he said.

He claimed that the matter was "not so big" as has been projected before the media.

The March 25, 2011 document on allocation and pricing of 2G spectrum broadly suggests that Chidambaram, when he was the Finance Minister, could have insisted that the 2-G spectrum could have been auctioned instead of being sold on a first come, first served basis by former Telecom Minister A Raja.

The note was written by P G S Rao, Deputy Director in the Finance Ministry, to Vini Mahajan, Joint Secretary in the PMO. The covering letter to the note also said that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had seen the document.