As expected Pranab Mukherjee has been elected the 13th President of Republic of India. The Presidential election of 2012 was conducted this week.
His competitor P.A Sangma has refused to comment on his heavy defeat, choosing to be a silent loser than a sore one. BJP and it’s allied in NDA have been given a rude awakening. Even Nitish Kumar of JD(U) decided to vote for Pranab rather than go with NDA’s choice.
Prior to this he was the Finance Minister in the current UPA govt. and has been responsible for some well known reforms over the years.
Here are some known & less known Facts about him that are doing rounds of the internet presently:
- Growing up in Birbhum, in rural Bengal, Pranabda was better known by his ‘daknam’ or nickname – Poltu.
- He began his career as a clerk in the office of the Deputy Accountant-General in Kolkata. He has also worked as a teacher in a Birbhum college and as a journalist for Desher Dak, a Bengali publication.
- The 76-year old Mr Mukherjee maintains a diary. Even when he was managing some of the biggest ministries – External Affairs, Defence and Finance – Pranab Babu managed to write a page every day. His daughter wants to publish it. Not in his lifetime, Mr Mukherjee insists!
- The quintessential Bengali, Pranab babu’s favourite food is fish curry. Not one for eating out, he eats fish curry almost every day, except Tuesdays. He is also known to be exceptionally fond of posto or poppy seeds that are ground and cooked with vegetables.
- He is an early riser – and hits works after his puja every morning. At night, he reads before he goes to bed, and take a customary nap in the afternoon for an hour.
- Euromoney magazine rated him as the best Finance Minister of the World according to a survey in 1984.
- In a recent interview, he said that he loves to walk in the morning, adding,“I take 40 rounds of my lawn measuring 90 metres, which, I am told, makes about three-and-a-half kilometers.”
Read the complete list of Presidents of India on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_India
History of Rashtrapati Bhavan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtrapati_Bhavan
Related articles
- The Birbhum boy comes a long way (thehindu.com)
- The Presidential Car : http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/pranab-mukherjee-s-rs-6-crore-mercedes-s-600-pullman-slideshow/
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