Pranab rushing to New York to meet PM

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is cutting short his visit here and rushing to New York to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, amid the brewing controversy back home over his ministry's note to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the 2G scam.

According to sources Mukherjee, in Washington to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, is heading to New York to meet the Prime Minister for "obvious" reasons. The Opposition is gunning for home minister P Chidambaram, after a finance ministry note saying the 2G spectrum could have been auctioned if the then-finance minister had insisted, surfaced. The unexpected development came a day after the Prime Minister said he fully backed Chidambaram, who "continues to enjoy and inspire my full confidence".

Asked whether there was any rift between his two top ministers, Singh said there was no infighting. The Prime Minister also spoke to Chidambaram on the issue from Frankfurt. Mukherjee had also spoken to the home minister yesterday. Singh is in New York to attend the 66th session of the UN General Assembly and is scheduled to address the world body tomorrow. The meeting between Singh and Mukherjee is expected to take place after the Prime Minister's address to the General Assembly. The sources did not divulge the specific reasons for the step, but would say it is "obvious" why he is travelling to New York to meet the Prime Minister.

It was not immediately clear if Mukherjee himself offered to go to New York to discuss with the Prime Minister the situation arising out of the latest controversy on the 2G Scam and Chidambaram’s role, or the Prime Minister summoned him to New York.