NEW DELHI, Sept 29 � Pranab Mukherjee today sought to douse the week-long raging fire ignited by a Finance Ministry note, distancing himself from the blame on P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum controversy and pacifying the sulking Home Minister who said the �matter is closed�.
The truce came at the intervention of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a day of hectic activities to quell apparent tensions between the two senior ministers that had put the government in bad light.
�Apart from the factual background, the paper contains certain inferences and interpretations which do not reflect my views,� Mukherjee said reading out a brief statement with Chidambaram standing by his side outside the North Block office of the Finance Ministry.
The joint appearance of the two ministers along with Kapil Sibal and Salman Khurshid came after Mukherjee and Chidambaram jointly met the Prime Minister where the matter was thrashed out.
Immediately, Chidambaram expressed happiness over Mukherjee�s statement and said, �I accept the statement and as far as all of us in the government is concerned, the matter is closed.�
After these statements, Gandhi met the Prime Minister at his residence for over half an hour. � PTI
