IANS/New Delhi

Defence Minister A K Antony, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and outgoing finance minister and presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee arrive to attend a Congress Working Committee meeting yesterday
The ruling Congress Party yesterday bade farewell to its presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee with glowing praise from leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi.
The specially convened meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) saw some emotional moments with members recalling Mukherjee’s long contribution to the party and the government and telling the senior leader that he would be missed.
While Singh said Mukherjee’s absence will be felt, Gandhi said he was a very capable candidate for presidency.
She said Mukherjee was the presidential choice of not just the United Progressive Alliance; his candidature has got support from other political parties outside the ruling alliance as well.
Mukherjee, a key troubleshooter of the UPA government, will resign as finance minister today and file his nomination papers for the presidential contest on June 28.
Describing Mukherjee as the most senior member of the CWC, the party’s top decision-making body, Gandhi said she was happy that he was “not only the Congress candidate but also the unanimous choice of the UPA.”
Gandhi hoped Mukherjee will record an overwhelming victory and expressed her gratitude to parties supporting his candidature.
The prime minister said Mukherjee enjoyed wide respect in the government.
“We will feel his absence,” Singh said.
Mukherjee told the meeting he always treated himself as a Congressman and “did all that I could have done.”
“Whatever I did for the party, I got back in greater measure from it.”
He expressed his gratitude to former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi besides Sonia and Singh.
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi also recalled Mukherjee’s long association with the party in his brief interaction with reporters and said he had learnt from the senior leader.
In his nearly four decades’ work in the Congress, Mukherjee has held varied organisational responsibilities, including of treasurer, party general secretary and chief of the party’s West Bengal unit. He also held diverse ministerial responsibilities.
In the UPA government, Mukherjee headed many groups of ministers and played a crucial role in breaking the impasse with the opposition in parliament.
As Leader of House in the Lok Sabha, Mukherjee convened several all-party meetings on issues ranging from opposition’s demand for joint parliamentary committee probe into 2G spectrum allocation to Foreign Direct Investment in retail.
Partymen hold Mukherjee in high esteem for his sharp sense of history, photographic memory of events and eye for detail.
Mukherjee first became a member of CWC in 1978 and a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1969.
Senior leaders A K Antony, Motilal Vora, S C Jamir and R K Dhawan were among those who lauded Mukherjee’s contribution and wished him a good future.
Of the 36 CWC members and permanent invitees called for the meeting six were not present. They included party general secretaries Ghulam Nabi Azad, Digvijay Singh and MP Karan Singh.
Party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, who briefed the media, said the leaders not present had given prior information to the party.
He called, but didn’t seek support: Advani
Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani yesterday revealed that Pranab Mukherjee had called him soon after his candidature for the presidency was announced, but did not ask for support. He also recalled his “cordial relations” with Mukherjee all through their political career. “He conveyed that he had been nominated. But he did not ask for support. He just reminisced about how since 1970, we had been together in parliament, sharing bonds of mutual esteem and affection,” Advani wrote in his blog. Mukherjee, during his call, recalled an incident when Advani insisted they have lunch together the day he retired from the Rajya Sabha. “I well remember how warm and cordial our interaction was not just for that day, but has been for all these years,” Advani said.