M A I N   N E W S

Pranab exits, set to embark on new journey
Set to embark on “a new journey”
Anita Katyal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 26
When UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee stepped out of his North Block office for the last time today and drove to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to submit his resignation as the country’s Finance Minister, it was the last time that he would undertake this journey.

The roles will be reversed once Mukherjee takes residence at Rashtrapati Bhavan after next month’s presidential election. It will then be the Prime Minister’s turn to call on President Mukherjee to brief him periodically about the developments in the government and his international visits.

For Mukherjee it was clearly an emotional moment as he bid farewell to a four-decade-long political career to embark on what he described as “a new journey.”

Mukherjee, who has held every important portfolio in the government and has been the sheet anchor of the Congress party and the ruling coalition, leaves behind a void which will be difficult to fill. Yesterday, Mukehrjee attended his last meeting of the Congress Working Committee where he was given a warm send off.

The outgoing Finance Minister had a relaxed day today. He had his usual siesta and met a stream of visitors, including National Security

Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Andhra Pradesh Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan, who dropped in to wish him well in his new role.

Shortly before he left for the PM’s residence, the ministry staff trooped in to say their final goodbye. Mukherjee, who is known for his quick temper, was in a genial mood and even agreed to be photographed with waiting media persons in his plush North Block office.

Later, addressing the media outside his office, Mukherjee said he was humbled and honoured by his nomination as a presidential candidate and admitted that he also felt a “tinge of sentiment at the thought of leaving behind my life as a political activist, spanning over four decades.”

“I will miss my colleagues in the finance ministry” he said, adding smilingly, “I will also miss not being stopped while getting into my car and getting out of my car in front of the finance ministry by you all (mediapersons).”

On a more serious note, he said, he had travelled a great distance” since his birth in a remote Bengal village where he had seen the lives of poor farmers of rural India. Referring to all the decisions he has taken during his long career, Mukherjee admitted “not every decision might have been right” but added that these were taken keeping in mind those simple and poor people whom he knew from his childhood.

Having resigned from the government, Mukherjee will now focus his attention on his election. He is set to file his nomination papers on June 28 and will embark on his campaign begins on June 30 from Chennai.

PM wishes Pranab all the best

New Delhi, June 26
PM Manmohan Singh today expressed his government’s deep gratitude to Pranab Mukherjee for his invaluable contribution during the last eight years, underscoring that both he and the Union Cabinet had benefited from his wise counsel on innumerable occasions.

“I wish you success in the election to the highest office in the country. I also wish you sustained good health and happiness in the years to come’’, the PM said in response to Mukherjee’s letter of resignation from the Cabinet.

“Our government owes a deep debt of gratitude to you for your invaluable contribution to its work over the last eight years,” he said. — TNS