Home minister P Chidambaram is facing trouble over his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. His bete noir Subramaniam Swamy last month alleged that he (as finance minister then) had delayed clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal to benefit his son Karti Chidambaram. The government came to PC's defence saying there was no delay.

Now, the Pioneer newspaper in a report on Tuesday says the government's defence is hollow and the actual clearance was indeed much delayed.

Read the report that stalled parliament today:

Govt’s defence of Chidambaram rings hollow

The Government’s claim that as Finance Minister, P Chidambaram did not delay Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to the Rs 4,000 crore Aircel-Maxis deal is far from the truth. While the actual clearance was given on October 3, 2006, the Government on April 28 claimed that FIPB cleared the Maxis acquisition of Aircel on March 7, 2006 itself.

The Government’s latest defence of the Home Minister came in response to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy’s allegations that under Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2006, the FIPB sat on the Aircel-Maxis deal for several months.

You can read it in here too:
http://www.dailypioneer.com/images/PDF/today_epaper.pdf

Meanwhile, here is Swamy's letter to the prime minister, accusing Chidambaram of irregualrities in this deal:

PC's son benefited from 2G scam?
Swamy writes to PM, demands probe