Union Finance Min Pranab Mukherjee has said there is no scope for any controversy in the continuing letter war between Union Home Min P Chidambaram and WBengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the state’s law and order situation.

Defending his ministerial colleague, Mukherjee said it was the constitutional duty of the Union home minister to seek information from the chief minister if there was any deterioration in law and order.

“Where is the controversy? The Union home minister has written a letter to the chief minister and he has given a reply to it,” Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata on Saturday.

Chidambaram had discharged his constitutional responsibility by seeking such information from the chief minister, he said, adding that it is the responsibility of the chief minister too to respond to his queries.

“Where is the scope of controversy in it?” he wondered.

Asked to comment on the alleged ‘bias’ of the Centre on the issue as suggested by the ruling Left Front, Mukherjee said there was no question of partiality.

“The Union home minister has discharged his constitutional duty.”

Asked how he felt about the use of word ‘harmad’ (hired killers) in the Union home minister’s letter, Mukherjee avoided a direct reply, saying, “Put the question to those who had used the word.”

Bhattacharjee had strongly resented the use of the word ‘harmad’ in Chidambaram’s first letter to him, describing it as ‘nasty’.

Chidambaram in his next correspondence asked the chief minister to give him an alternative word to which Bhattacharjee did not respond.