FM says goodbye, PM takes charge till successor named
Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday stepped down as finance minister, saying he stood ready to “embark on a new journey”. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would hold additional charge of the finance ministry after Mukherjee’s resignation. According to a senior government official, Singh will hold the charge until a new minister is announced.
On his last day at his North Block office, Mukherjee said while not every decision of his might have been right, “but I have taken those decisions keeping in view the interest of the people”. “I will miss my colleagues in the ministry. And, I will also miss not being stopped while getting into my car and getting out of my car in front of the ministry office by you all (reporters),” he told a huge media gathering at North Block. Mukherjee started his last day as finance minister at 6 am, with a morning walk. He read newspapers for a good half an hour and had four cups of tea. He then said his prayers before leaving for office.
At the office, there was a group photo with his staff. A fleet of photographers had been summoned to capture the ‘special moments’ with bureaucrats and journalists.
The rest of the day was spent meeting visitors, replying to letters and finishing pending work. He wrote to Home Minister P Chidambaram, urging him to provide security to Trinamool Congress MP Suvendu Adhikari, facing a threat to his life.
The Prime Minister wrote a letter to Mukherjee in response to his resignation. “We hope to see you occupy the exalted position of President next month and are confident that our country and people will continue to benefit from your wisdom, knowledge and decades of experience in public life,” it said.