Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday interacted for the press for one last time in his capacity as the finance minister. He will now run for President as the candidate of the ruling United Progressive Alliance.
He will also resign from the primary membership of the Congress Party. After meeting his colleagues in the Congress Working Committee on Monday, he said leaving the party was an ‘emotional moment'.
As of now, there is no official word from the government on who will replace Mr. Mukherjee, who stewarded the Indian economy through the financial crisis that hit in late 2008. Some sources say Prime Manmohan Singh will take charge of the portfolio.
Here are the highlights of what Mr. Mukherjee said:
- My last day in the ministry is not the time to open a new dialogue
- Ready to embark on a new journey
- I feel honoured and humbled by my nomination to contest the Presidential election
- I feel a tinge of sentiment on leaving my political life
- Will miss not being stopped by media persons
- I know that not every decision that I have taken may not be right
- My decisions were taken in the interest of the common man
- Media has always reminded me of my responsibility
- I will miss my colleagues in the finance ministry
- I have travelled a distance in my life but I always remind myself that I was born in a village in Bengal
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