Pranab Mukherjee to speak on 2G issue, if needed, after meeting PM

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday maintained he will speak, if necessary, on the finance ministry note on 2G spectrum allocation issue only after talking to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday.

"I am reiterating what I have said in New York and Delhi. If there is anything necessary to speak on the finance ministry note obtained through an RTI application, I will speak after talking to the Prime Minister and other senior colleagues tomorrow", Mukherjee told reporters at his residence in Kolkata.

"Yesterday, I had stated that so long the Prime Minister is outside the country, I would not like to make any comment on the finance ministry note."

"The Prime Minister is coming back this evening and I am going back to Delhi by tomorrow evening. If there is anything to be told after talking to the Prime Minister and my other colleagues, I will make my comment", he said earlier at the airport after arriving from Delhi.

Mukherjee had returned to Delhi on Monday from New York after a five-day visit to the US amid a controversy over the March 25 note of the Finance Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office(PMO) which said 2G spectrum could have been auctioned if the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram had insisted on this route.

He had stated that "I have spoken to media (yesterday). I have nothing to add in respect of the finance ministry note."

Mukherjee had met Singh in New York on Sunday after which he had said he would have to seek "expert opinion" on the note issue.

He had described Chidambaram as "our valued colleague" but made it clear that he would make any comments on the issue only after he spoke to the Home Minister, Law Minister Salman Khurshid and other party leaders.