The 13th President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, while thanking the electoral college, seems to have not forgotten to thank the late prime minister Indira Gandhi who offered him a cabinet birth for the first time. He said Indira Gandhi was his tutor. Pranab Mukherjee thanked the Congress party for making a small party activist the number one citizen of the country. The political observers said it was Pranab's humbleness to tag himself as a small party activist. He was, in fact, one of the pillars of Congress party who was the main trouble shooter of the party.

When Pranab Mukherjee was asked about the competition for number two position in the cabinet, he has said that everyone in the cabinet was equal and the prime minister will be the only head. Therefore, he dismissed the statements that there are positions such as number two, number three and so on  in a cabinet. It may be recalled that Pranab Mukherjee was called as the number two person in the UPA.

Pranab Mukherjee, who was elected as the president of India, had however decided to quit politics in 2014. And by quitting active politics for becoming president, the observers said Pranab's exit was royal.

(AW Phani)