Kolkata, March 08: Praising Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for playing the role of a sheet anchor in dealing with difficult situations, the West Bengal Governor on Sunday said without him cabinet system might well be in jeopardy.
“Mukherjee is not merely an important member of the Union Cabinet but without him cabinet system might well be in jeopardy,” Governor M K Narayanan said while releasing a coffee-table book on him at a function at Raj Bhavan here.
“Without him (Pranab Mukherjee) the soft spoken Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) might find it difficult to manage a pricky situation,” the Governor said.
“He is the shining star in our firmament and I was privileged to be associated with some of these triumphs, notably the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative — perhaps one of the important foreign policy triumphs,” Narayanan, a former National Security Advisor, said.
Speaking about the book, ‘Pranab Mukherjee: The All Season Man’, educationist Amal Mukhopadhyya said “Mukherjee is professional political scientist and an impartial observer”.
“Among the national figures at the moment, Mukherjee stood as a class by himself,” Mukhopadhyya, who was former principal of the Presidency College Kolkata, said.
The book has been written by a political activist and a lawyer and is a compilation of memoirs, first person accounts and thoughts by eminent personalities from different walks of life at home and abroad.
It has been edited by Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, a state Congress leader and a close associate of Mukherjee.
–PTI