New Delhi, June 26 : Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who will tender his resignation in a short while from now before filing his nomination for the presidential poll, turned emotional on Tuesday, saying he stands ready to embark on a new journey.
"Today, I stand ready to embark on a new journey. I feel honoured and humbled on my nomination as a candidate to contest the presidential election by UPA-II, supported by the Samajwadi Party, BSP, JD (U), Shiv Sena, CPI (M), Forward Bloc and some other parties for which election is scheduled to be held on 19th of July. Yet standing on the brink of such an honour, I also feel a tinch of sentiment at the thought of leaving behind my life as a political activist spanning over four decades," Mukherjee told the media outside the North Block here.
"I will miss my colleagues in the Ministry of Finance and I will also miss not being stopped by all of you, who are assemble here while getting into my car or coming out of my car in front of my office in North Block. Friends I have covered a distance in my life, but I always remind myself that I was born in a remote village in Bengal. I saw the lives of poor farmers and simple folks in rural India," he added.
Mukherjee further said every decision taken by him might not have been right, but it was taken in the best public interest.
"I know that not every decision, which I have taken might have been right. But I have taken those decisions keeping in view the interest of the people, whose faces appear before me more than often. Members of the media, friends like you, have always reminded me my responsibility," said Mukherjee.
"Most of the times through your criticism, sometimes through your appreciation, what I should do as a representative of the people, for the people. I hope this duty you will continue so long I am in public life. Thank you for the opportunity that you have given to me to interact with you," he added.
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