New York: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is in Washington, is coming here Sunday to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the wake of a controversy over the role of Home Minister P. Chidambaram in the allocation of 2G spectrum.
Mukherjee is in Washington to attend the World Bank-IMF meetings over the weekend. He was scheduled to fly back home Sunday, but changed his plans in view of the controversy, according to diplomatic sources.

He is also scheduled to address the media in Washington later Friday instead of Sunday as planned earlier, but he is unlikely to speak about the finance ministry note on the second generation (2G) spectrum case to the Prime Minister's Office.

In New York, Mukherjee had Wednesday acknowledged the existence of the March note saying the airwaves could have been auctioned in 2008 if Chidambaram, the then finance minister, had "stuck to his stand".

He, however, avoided direct comment on the note from his ministry saying the matter was sub-judice.

In the note, the finance ministry says Chidambaram, one of the government's most high-profile ministers, could have prevented spectrum from being given away at throwaway prices by insisting on its auction -- implying that presumptive losses worth thousands of crores could have thus been avoided.

The note, which was apparently shown to Mukherjee and accessed by an application under the Right to Information Act, was prepared by a deputy secretary in the finance ministry and sent to the Prime Minister's Office March 25.

Manmohan Singh and Mukherjee, called up Chidambaram over the controversy Wednesday night and were assured that he will not speak on the issue till their return.

Mumbai: In the midst of fresh controversy in the 2G spectrum case, anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare Friday said Home Minister P. Chidambaram would have been behind bars had the Jan Lokpal legislation been in existence. "Had there been a Jan Lokpal now, Chidambaram would have been in jail," Hazare, who earlier branded the Union Home Minister as a "mischievous person", said.

Chidambaram would have to "go home" in the 2G scam, Hazare said at his village Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district. "Chidambaram is 'khodsal' (a Marathi word which means a mischievous or a dishonest person)," the Gandhian had alleged soon after returning to his village this month while giving an account of his arrest and release in Delhi ahead of his fast on Jan Lokpal issue.

Chidambaram is facing heat from a united opposition which has pressed for his resignation and a CBI probe over his stand in the controversial 2G spectrum allocation after a Finance Ministry note to the Prime Minister's office(PMO) was submitted to the Supreme Court by Janata party leader Subramanian Swamy.

The note suggested that the 2G scam could have been averted if the Finance Ministry, then under Chidambaram, had insisted on spectrum allocation through auction.

The Government and Congress have stoutly defended Chidambaram asserting that his integrity is not in doubt and there is no question mark over his conduct.