Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is on an official tour in the US initially refused to comment on a note of his ministry which has set off a political storm back home in India.
Mukherjee subsequently stated to reporters there, “The matter is sub judice. I cannot make any comment on it. The whole matter is under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court of India. We cannot make any comment on any matter that is sub judice.” While Mukherjee refrained from commenting on the matter, the incident reinforces the long standing rift between the two.
However while separately addressing business leaders at a high-profile USIBC roundtable, Mukherjee said the Finance Ministry letter to the PM's Secretariat is out in the open only due to the Right to Information Act, which is one of the many steps the government has taken to flush out corruption and make governance transparent and accountable.
In recent years a lot of authority has been given to the people of India through the RTI, he said. “In fact today a sensational news item has come and it is through the exercise of the RTI. A note was sent by Minister of Finance to Prime Minister. Somebody demanded through the use of RTI to have the copy of that note from the Prime Minister's Secretariat and... Fact of the matter is somebody has produced that as a piece of evidence in a particular case,” Mukherjee said. He said whether the letter can be used in such a manner or not "is a different story."
While Mukherjee refrained from commenting on the matter, the incident reinforces the long standing rift between the Home minister and the Finance minister, last evident during the ‘bugging episode.’
Sections within the Congress party are of the opinion that Mukherjee should clarify the contents of the document as it seems to indicate a wedge within the government which damages its credibility.