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Chidambaram on 2G note: 'I have a very short memory'

Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday parried questions on the truce between him and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the controversial 2G note and whether he had offered to quit during the crisis.

At his monthly press conference on the home ministry's working, a reporter asked him whether Thursday's truce was a defeat for Mukherjee and a win for him.

"I don't recall anything of that in the ministry of home affairs," Chidambaram said.

"Frankly, I have a very short memory," he told a reporter when asked whether he had offered to resign.

'I am also poor in counting'

"How many times have you offered to resign," the reporter persisted. "

Along with short memory, I am also poor in counting," the home minister shot back.

"At least once," the reporter tried yet again. "

Actually, I am learning numerics," Chidamabarm said.

When the reporter told him that his answer would lead to more speculations, the home minister said, "You have to fill your pages, go ahead."

A reporter asked him, "So you are not denying that you offered to resign?"

"There is nothing in the question that concerns the home ministry. The answer is no answer," Chidambaram said.

'I can't recall anything'

"Sir, an inter-ministerial note (the controversial finance ministry note) exists in the government though the finance minister may not have given his consent. Do you feel weakened by the controversy," a journalist asked.

Chidambaram replied, "I can't recall anything in the home ministry".

"When the reporter repeated the question in a different form, the minister said "I can't question your beliefs."

To a question on the "unending rivalry" between Subramanian Swamy and him, he said, "There is nothing that concerns the home minister."

When the reporter persisted "but it concerns the home minister", Chidambaram replied, "It doesn't. There is and there will always be a home minister in this country."