Pranab Mukherjee opens-up

New Delhi, Jul 23: Pranab Mukherjee was the 13th President of India since July 2012. He is Preceded by Pratibha Patil and Succeeded by Ram Nath Kovind(the new elect). His term as President started on 25 July 2012. Before-in-time to his election as President, Mukherjee was Union Finance Minister from (2009-2012).

Then Prime Minister of India at that particular time, Indira Gandhi had recognized Mukherjee's talents and recruited him to the Indian National Congress. He then became a member of the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian parliament) on July 22, 1969.

When the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power in 2004, Mukherjee won a Lok Sabha seat for the first time. From then, until his resignation in 2012, Mukherjee was practically number-two in Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.



Soon after securing the nomination for the country's presidency in July 2012, Mukherjee intimately defeated P. A. Sangma in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan, winning 70% of the electoral-college vote.

But, in 2017, Mukherjee decided not to run for re-election and to retire from politics after leaving the presidency due to "health complications relating to old age". His term expires on July 25, 2017.

The voice of Mukherjee's expression is that he entered the Parliament on July 22nd and he is leaving the Parliament on July 23rd itself. This is what Pranab specifically stressed on the occasion at a bid farewell arranged to him.