2G: Pranab to meet PM in NY for better solution?

New York, Sep 25: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has arrived in New York for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum issue in the wake of a finance ministry note involving P Chidambaram.

Mukherjee arrived from Washington rescheduling his travel plans ahead of his return home on the evening of Sep 26.

He refused to talk to journalists as Secret Service personnel herded him to his room in the hotel where the Indian delegation accompanying the Prime Minister is also staying.

A senior MEA official had to make way for Mukherjee's accommodation in a suite in view of pressure on hotels due to the ongoing General Assembly session of the United Nations for which several delegations from various countries are currently in the city.

Sources said that the meeting has been sought by Mukherjee.

The Prime Minister on Sep 24 had rejected the Opposition's demand for the resignation of home minister Chidambaram over the 2G issue and made it clear he would defend all his cabinet colleagues.

Ahead of his meeting with Mukherjee, Singh had also said there was nothing "unusual" in the demand of the Opposition and asserted there was no question of him getting bothered about it.

He was replying to questions by reporters on the strident demand of the Opposition for Chidambaram's resignation in the light of the Finance Ministry's 2G note to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) submitted to the Supreme Court last week.

PTI