New Delhi: A seasoned warhorse and a veteran trouble-shooter, 71-year-old Pranab Mukherejee is the quintessential Congressman whose never-say-die spirit has stood him in good stead in decades of his chequered political career.
The senior Congress leader, who some call as the "perennial number two", had been an important member of the Cabinet ever since the days of Indira Gandhi and was in the dog house for a brief period in the aftermath of her assassination.
Mukherjee even floated a party after he was expelled from Congress for allegedly nursing Prime Ministerial ambitions.
Known as the Congress brain trust, Mukherjee has always worn many hats but had no occasion to wear the ‘crown’, which eluded him in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi renounced Prime Ministership and nominated Manmohan Singh for the top job.
His services have been liberally utilised by Prime Ministers and Congress Presidents from Indira Gandhi's time as a strategiest and political manager as also in drafting important resolutions of the party and Congress governments.
Mukherjee has worked as External Affairs Minister during the P V Narasimha Rao regime.
Born in a freedom fighter's family in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Mukherjee, known in political circles as 'dada', did his Masters in History and Political Science from Calcutta University.
He was first inducted into the Union Council of Ministers in 1973 as Deputy Minister for Industry by Indira Gandhi and became Commerce Minister with cabinet rank when she came back to power in 1980.
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