Against the backdrop of the recent fracas involving Union Urban Affairs Minister Ram Jethmalani and Secretary Kiran Aggarwal, Vajpayee on Tuesday sent letters to all Cabinet ministers and ministers of state with independent charge advising them to show restraint and avoid ``any direct and unnecessary confrontation'' with the bureaucracy.

Vajpayee has asked his ministers to ensure the smooth functioning of their departments and be careful not to make sensitive issues public.

Without naming any individual minister, the letter is understood to have also asked ministers to ensure a coordinated and smooth functioning of their departments.

``The fact that the Prime Minister was constrained to issue such a letter in his name showed the seriousnesswith which he viewed the recent developments and his determination to put an end to it before it went out of hand and put the government in a spot,'' a senior official said.

Sources said that although the letter was unusual, it was not the first time the prime minister had been forced to write to his ministers.

Earlier, in the aftermath of the Pokhran nuclear tests, Vajpayee reportedly restrained his colleagues from making conflicting statements in public, which would cause unnecessary confusion about the government's policy.

Jethmalani had recently clashed with Aggarwal over the decision to re-allot a complex at HUDCO Place in South Delhi to MS Shoes, and the manner in which the General Consultancy was awarded in the Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) project in Delhi. The confrontation culminated in Jethmalani divesting Aggarwal of her key responsibilities and giving charge to her junior.

The Urban Affairs Minister also locked horns with other senior bureaucrats, including Personnel Secretary ArvindVerma, over certain ``discrepancies'' in the drafting of the ordinance creating the post of the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). The minister had said that some bureaucrats were a ``disgrace'' to their profession.

The Prime Minister's Office is learnt to have referred the MS Shoes file to the Ministries of Finance and Law before being put to the Cabinet for a final decision. In case of the MRTS project, the Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar has been assigned the task of resolving the controversy.