Against the backdrop of the raging perception of a dispute between Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram, the finance minister on Sunday called the home minister a "valued" colleague and said he would speak to him soon.

Mukherjee spoke to the media here after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in what is seen as an effort to cool tempers over a finance ministry note that undercuts Chidambaram''s insistence that he did not agree with former telecom minister A Raja's controversial decision to allot 2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices.

Mukherjee also referred to newspaper reports that the note was released by PMO in response to an RTI query, and dismissed BJP's demand for Chidambaram's resignation. Later, he told a TV channel that he had not demanded Chidambaram's resignation.

Refusing to comment on the controversy after his hour-long interaction with the PM which he acknowledged as unusual, Mukherjee said, "I have only read newspaper clippings. I need to have information. Some piece of information has come out in the form of a finance ministry communication to the PMO in response to an RTI query. Until I talk to the law minister and to the home minister who has been my valued colleague and go through all the papers, I am not in a position to give you any thing."

Maintaining that he would not say anything on the controversy although he knew the media was waiting to ask him about the 2G episode, Mukherjee said, "Why should I talk on a domestic issue in a foreign country. I am not going to be away all the time, I am not a fugitive."

Saying the 2G case was before the court, he said he needed to consult experts to understand the legal implications of finance ministry's paper that has been seized upon by BJP and government's detractors like Subramanian Swamy to demand that Chidambaram be prosecuted.

Mukherjee, who was in Washington DC, altered his itinerary to meet the PM before taking a flight back home in what was seen as an effort to seal the rift between two ministers on how Raja managed to have his way over the pricing of spectrum.

However, he denied that the meeting was about the perceived feud between two senior ministers who are members of the Cabinet Committee on Security.

The finance minister was in Washington to attend meetings of the World Bank-International Monetary Fund and finance ministers of G-20 countries. He also held deliberations with American business leaders. He said that he needed to brief the PM on the meetings he had held.

Chidambaram is learnt to be unhappy with the contents of finance ministry's paper. Although the prime minister promptly reposed trust in him and ruled out his resignation, it is not clear that whether the home minister is mollified as yet.

Mukherjee had to modify his schedule since he is to leave for his home town in West Bengal for Durga Puja and will not be around when the PM returns to New Delhi on Tuesday night.

This was the second instance of Mukherjee meeting the PM on foreign shores and was swiftly interpreted as indicating the anxiety of Singh and Congress leadership to put a lid on what is seen as a serious feud among senior ministers.

The readiness with which the PM fielded questions on the pow-wow on way to the US from Frankfurt earlier this week is also seen as underlining the seriousness of the matter. Government leaders while abroad are usually able to dodge questions on such awkward matters by taking shelter in the argument that they would not discuss domestic matters. The issue cast a shadow on the PM's engagements at the United Nations.

Mukherjee, however, stressed that nobody raised the issue with him. He also made light of opposition's demand saying it was not unusual. "What else will they do," he said.

Mukherjee's arrival in the Central Park Hotel was marked by an altercation between the Indian media personnel traveling with the PM and security personnel of the US State Department deployed to keep them away from the finance minister.