Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday decided to send External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Lanka to press for a ceasefire between forces and LTTE and resumption of dialogue.

"I requested the Prime Minister to send Mukherjee to issue a strong warning to the Sri Lankan Government to announce a ceasefire immediately and to hold peaceful negotiations with them," said M. Karunanidhi at New Delhi after meeting Singh along with a multi-party delegation from the state.

"The Prime Minister agreed to send the Foreign Minister to Sri Lanka and told me that he will travel to the island nation as soon as possible," he said.

Mukherjee was also present at the meeting.

Karunanidhi said a decision on who will accompany Mukherjee during his visit to Sri Lanka would be worked out in consultation with him.

The delegation also met United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, whose husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber.