Mukherjee likely to resign from cabinet, Congress today

Kolkata/New Delhi, June 24 (ANI): The United Progressive Alliance's (UPA's) presidential nominee, Pranab Mukherjee, may resign from the post of Union Finance Minister on Sunday.

"I will resign on June 24," Mukherjee had said on Saturday in Kolkata.

Mukherjee is expected to file his nomination papers for the the July 19 presidential election on June 28.

Four sets of nomination papers, each having 50 proposers and seconders, are being readied for the nomination, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had said recently.

Besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, several union ministers as also leaders of UPA allies are expected to be the proposers and seconders of Mukherjee's candidature.

Mukherjee, who is in West Bengal at the moment, will be visiting the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission before heading for New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is likely to meet on Monday in New Delhi to bid farewell to Mukherjee. Discussions on the presidential polls are also expected.

Over the weekend visit to West Bengal, Mukherjee was nostalgic and emotional, saying that his 40-year career in politics was coming to a close, and added that he was now embarking on a new chapter in his life.

He said he was hoping to take on his new assignment with the blessings of the people of his village in West Bengal's Birbhum District,as also the the blessings of Goddess Durga. (ANI)