2G note row: Pranab explains stand in letter to PM

As the 2G fire rages, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has written a letter

 to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh setting out in detail the events surrounding the controversial allocation of spectrum.

The letter comes in the midst of a controversy triggered by the surfacing of a note from a Finance Ministry official suggesting that 2G scam could have been avoided by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram if had insisted of auction instead of giving licences on 2001 prices.

As Mukherjee, who had met the Prime Minister in New York on Sunday, wrote the letter, Chidambaram met Singh on his return from the US today.

Mukherjee, who returned to the capital from Kolkata late in the night, told reporters, "The correspondence between the prime minister and ministers, I consider, are confidential."

The letter is understood to have detailed the various meetings held on the subject of allocation of 2G spectrum, the correspondence between various ministries and the events leading to the decision.